An Officer and a Dental Hygienist
by Dairi
Summary: Oliver Queen is a low level cop and seriously overdue for an annual checkup. He finds out he shouldn't have been putting off his appointment for so long. Did I mention there is a burning building involved?
1. Oliver's Checkup

A/N: So. I have had this in my head for a while...well, you pretty much all know since when, but I finally had the itch to write a little and this came out? It is painfully short, I know, but it seemed like a good place to end it. For now. I'd love for you all to let me know if this is worth continuing. I have a few ideas I'd like to carry out but I'm not sure at present how to do that, so.

Also, fair warning, I don't know much about actual dental work so that will probably be to a very minimum if mentioned much at all. Also I hope the layout isn't too weird and makes some sort of sense. I tried to remember how the bigger ones are laid out but I've lived in a very small town for the past 5 years so if anything doesn't make sense, creative license? Lol

Ok, sorry to ramble. Please enjoy. And if you have a moment, please let me know what you think!

* * *

An Officer and a Dental Hygienist

Oliver Queen sighed to himself as he pushed open the double doors to one of the best dental offices in Star City. He'd taken a couple hours leave this afternoon because this was the only appointment time available and he had no idea how long the wait would be. And, he figured, if he was going to get his little sister to take her dental hygiene seriously, it was time for him to start setting the example by keeping his seriously overdue check up.

After signing in, he took a seat in the waiting room and perpared to settle in. Which for him, meant people watch - discreetly, of course. The instincts of a cop now well ingrained in him these past five years at least, he kept a healthy eye on the exits, too. And his choice of seating - back against a wall - was no accident. This particular building was split into three main sections with a large central area around which they pinwheeled - childrens, general, and orthodontics, and a seperate area for consultations. Oliver was sitting with his back to the outer most wall in between general care and childrens.

Which is how he found himself with a great, front-row seat when the door to the childrens offices opened and out came a blonde woman, walking backwards with several files in her arms, yet still somehow able to use her hands in an enthusiastic conversation with a coworker. She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail, dark-rimmed glasses, and a strangely captivating smile. Which he thought nothing about as she turned and headed for the door to the general offices.

Nope.

And he totally did not continue staring at that door for the next several minutes after it had closed behind her, hoping for one more glance...

Oliver shook his head and continued his surveillance of the entire area. It wouldn't matter if he was attracted, she was no doubt too intelligent to go for someone like him. Besides, she probably already had a special someone.

This logical thinking did not stop his blue gaze from snapping to the general offices door when it opened about ten minutes later. He held his breath as he noticed a single file in her hands, her gaze looking around the waiting area expectantly. She was about to call back a patient, he could tell, and if every fiber of his being was not pleading and yet dreading her to call out his name...

"Ray Palmer?"

Oliver let out a slightly shaky breath, relieved but also...disappointed.

And then her eyes met his. And she smiled. At him.

His answering smile was purely an instinctive reaction.

If his eyes lit up, then you were seeing things. Just like you'd imagine the way his gaze darkened just a little as that door closed upon her and Palmer.

Oliver sighed and readjusted himself in the seat; thank goodness his partner, John Diggle, had not been present to witness that. He'd have never heard the end of it. But, maybe, he'd have to see about accompanying his little sister when he finally got her to go. Because, maybe the dentist office's waiting room was not such a horrible place to be.


	2. Thea's Appointment

A/N - I love Thea lol, I hope I didn't make her -too- wild though. I went for amusing, hopefully managed to get some right. She had to be the push they needed, though sadly there still isn't much interaction between our fav blondes just yet. I don't know how many chapters there will be yet, we shall see. Hope you enjoy, and thank you for reading!

Note: Oliver is still in street clothes here, too, no uniform yet.

* * *

Officer & Hygienist

Thea Queen lands in the chair next to her brother, grumping the whole way. At least she was allowed to go to school late today because of her dental appointment, but that did not in any way mean that she actually wanted to be here this morning. No, her brother dear had more or less forced this trip upon her, and since their parents were...gone, well, she kind of had to listen to her brother.

"This isn't where mom and dad went." Thea complained, not at all trying to hush her voice to prevent her being overheard. She really didn't care who heard her - she didn't want to be here, and that was going to be made known.

"That was a private practice, Thea. They aren't taking any new adult patients and you were gonna be aging out; besides, we couldn't afford it anymore anyway." Oliver reminded her, keeping his voice down as he glanced around the waiting area. Not that he was...looking for any blon- any _one_ in particular. No. He was just making sure he wouldn't have to apologize for anyone over hearing Thea's not entirely nice comments. He refused to dwell on the disappointment that surfaced every time a door opened and no blonde ponytail was revealed.

After several minutes of her brother's strange fascination with the two doorways of childrens' and general practitioners, Thea began to catch on that there was something she was missing. Narrowing her eyes at Oliver, she turned to him and asked,

"Are you...looking for someone?" Her mind immediately flashed to either meeting an informant, which here of all places would be really weird, or observing a suspect - things above his paygrade, and stuff he usually wasn't supposed to be doing anyway, but that was the way her workaholic brother was these days.

Imagine her surpise when a distinct shade of pink tinged her brother's skin starting from the base of his neck upwards. Thea felt her jaw slide open, because...

"Are you _blushing_?"

"I am not. It's...warm in here." Oliver's narrowed gaze snapped to hers, and his immediate reaction was defense. So, in Thea's eyes, it must be true. He wouldn't react that way unless she hit a sore spot. Plus, it was not terribly warm in here, even slightly chilly actually. This dentist visit had just gotten interesting.

Thea grinned and leaned back in her seat, arms folded. She was so going to enjoy this.

"So," Thea began after a moment of silence, "is she a dentist or one of the hygienists? Oh, or a record keeper?"

"There is no, 'she,' Thea." Oliver answered, leaning forward and rubbing his hands together. He was ansty. This was good.

"Pretty sure you're not into dudes, so, I'm still going with a 'she,' unless you want to tell me something brother mine..."

"Thea!" Oliver flicked her arm lightly causing her to laugh and lean away from him, muttering 'fine, fine.'

Silence.

"If you tell me what she looks like, I could put in a good word for you." Thea couldn't help but add, her expression as she grinned at Oliver quite cheeky. Before Oliver could even form a reply, the door to the gerenal offices opened and there stood a blonde in a ponytail, dark-rimmed glasses and a colorful blouse. She was looking down at the file in her hand, but a quick glance at Oliver and Thea knew this was the woman he had been looking for. There was a liveliness in his eyes she had never seen before, at least, not since long before...well.

The liveliness in his eyes belied the fact that he was frozen in place the moment the blonde woman looked their way. Poor guy, he may have even stopped breathing.

"Thea Queen?"

"No 'she,' huh?" Thea leaned in and whispered as she stood, turning towards the woman and giving her a smile. Her words seemed to knock her brother from his stupor, and he was reaching a hand out to her, saying, "Don't-!" his eyes wide, but she just smiled sweetly at him over her shoulder and carried on, stepping past the woman. She glanced back just in time to see the timid smiles exchanged between the two blondes. Ugh, good thing she came today, because these two needed serious help.

* * *

When she saw the name Thea Queen on the sign-in sheet, Felicity will not deny how seeing the name - the last name - made her heart rate increase. She did not make it a practice to sneak a peek at other patients' charts, but she'd never seen him before and with a smile like that...she was only human, after all. And female. And he was...

Oliver Queen.

Who now possibly had a wife. Or daughter? She would be really old to be a daughter though, a bit young for a wife but who was she to say. And she really needed to quit rambling in her head because the young woman in question was standing right in front of her.

"Thea Queen. I'm sure you saw my dorky brother out there, he was here a couple weeks ago and has now finally succeeded in dragging me in." The young brunette said, sticking out a hand for Felicity to shake. Shifting the file over, Felicity smiled slightly absently as shook Thea's hand.

Brother. Oh. Why hadn't she thought of that?

"Pleased to meet you, Miss Queen." Felicity greeted, shaking her hand with a smile.

"Thea, please. 'Miss Queen' makes me sound old." The two women chuckled as Felicity steered the younger woman towards an open room in the back.

"Ok, Thea. So this is a general check up, right? Have you been having any issues, any pain or sensitivity?" Felicity asked as she attended to some things around the desk area of the little room.

"Other than my stubborn and oblivious brother, no."

"Oh, I meant more with your teeth. Which would be why you're here." A pause, then a nervous laugh. "Well, anyway, I hope you're not biting your brother." Felicity said with a hint of humor in her tone.

"Once upon a time." Was Thea's speedy and flat response, followed quickly by, "More importantly, are you single?"

"Excuse me?" After the moment it took for her thoughts to recover from the subject whiplash, Felicity's response sounded quite incredulous. She could not believe the question that this teenager had just asked her - had she heard right?

"Well I don't see a ring and I'm asking on behalf of my usually broody brother - I saw the looks back there." Thea informed her, crossing her arms as she stood her ground.

"That...is none of your business." Felicity said, waving to the chair for Thea to finally sit. "You don't know me and I don't know either of you. If your brother is so curious...then he should be the one to ask, and maybe I'll answer."

"So, that was not a, 'no,' then?"

"Thea. Sit." Felicity admonished, pointing to the chair before turning back to prepare her tools.

"Fine. I'm not one to push." Thea proclaimed as she sat, the unmistakable sound of a snort coming from the blonde behind her. Then she continued, "May I have a name, at least? You know mine." And here Thea put on her very best puppy dog face. Felicity glanced at her a moment, then sighed, somewhat happy she'd forgotten her name badge today. Like she frequently did, actually...

"Felicity. Now, lean back and open up."


	3. Roy's Appointment

Gah, this chapter gave me so. much. trouble. I am so sorry for only now finishing it, I also apologize if it seems a little rushed...I've had this idea in my head so long, and was very unhappy with how this was turning out, so I'm finally just putting this together and throwing it out there. Oh, and if anyone is interested in betaing any of my work or future works, please let me know. i would be interested. I also have a tumblr, which is dairi89, so if you're interested or would like to talk or have a question please feel free to drop by. I have a teaser for another story I'm slowly working on there, too. ;)

* * *

It would be a week and a half - nine days, not that she was counting - before she set eyes on that particular pair of blues once more. A quite distinctive shade that, if she were honest, had never strayed very far from her mind all nine of those days.

Her superiors were doing some sort of inspection or quality test today, so all in the office were asked to dress up. Which was stupid, considering it was a dental office and most people were wearing scrubs. Nonetheless, she'd put on modest yet still fasionable heels and a semi-fancy yet comfortable and entirely work appropriate dress. Heels of which were supposed to be comfortable but after hours of walking around in them, she only wanted to use them as a weapon to show her boss just what she thought of this unnecessary 'dressing up.'

It was her fault, really, because she was walking backwards yet again and she knew better than to do that, especially in these heels. She'd been walking a new patient out, actually, their file in her hand as she turned to give them one last piece of advice.

"...and don't forget to floss everyday, no matter what the government says! You really can't afford any build up around those shallow roots, remember." Felicity was telling a young lady, who cracked a smile but solemnly nodded. Then Felicity began to wave her over towards the front desk,

"Now, Charla over here will take care of -" she had been going to go into financial matters and billing insurance, which were things Charla at the front desk would take care of, but Felicity did not get to finish seeing as someone had inconsideratly left a few children's play blocks right in the middle of the room. Which Felicity had not seen, as she did not possess eyes on the back of her head, which promptly led to her stumbling, the file slipping from her fingers and connecting with the ground, papers spilling out, and Felicity throwing her arms wildly as she tried not to fall.

It wasn't helping - her balance was lost, so the only thing she could do now was brace for impact. The impact...did not come as she had imagined. Not even close.

She was imagining a full-out face plant, or perhaps if she fell backwards a simple but hard landing on her behind. It would be mortifying, but slightly less than the flace plant. What actually happened, the reality of the situation was much more mortifying than anything she could have imagined.

The only impact was against a person - a real, live, living, breathing person, and not the cold, impersonal tile floor. She could feel the person's hands grab onto her upper arms to steady her, and her momentum combined with this person's reaching out to steady her had led her to practically fall against an unknown chest. Her eyes, shut tight in preparation for the meeting of the floor, slowly opened upon realizing her balance was back and there was no more danger of her face meeting the floor anytime soon. And she saw her carefully painted sky blue nails resting on a blue uniformed chest, right next to a shiny silver badge.

"Oh God, I'm going to be arrested for assaulting an officer." Felicity muttered, then winced, as ever unable to control her brain-to-mouth filter. The answering breathy chuckle made her look up into a too-familiar yet never seen this close up pair of spectacular blue eyes. Felicity sucked in a quick breath of air and made herself lean away.

"Are you all right?" He asked her, some of the mirth fading from his eyes but there was still a seriousness in their depths that some how called to her. Plus, he was still holding on to her arms...she shook her head to clear it.

"Yes, I'm fine, Mr. Queen...Officer Queen? Uh. I'm sorry for, uh falling for you...over you! Onto you, I mean, or uh however this... happened." Felicity winced again and closed her eyes, interally berating herself and why oh why could she not think or speak coherently in his presence..he'll think she's an utter idiot.

Plus, she had no idea he was a cop. She shouldn't be as fascinated by that as she was.

"It's Oliver, and you didn't. I uh...saw you falling, and didn't want you to get hurt. You should be more careful, miss...?" Now certain she could remain upright on her own, he almost reluctantly released her arms and took a step back, but went no further than that. Her interesting speech patterns had tugged at the corners of his mouth, and he found himself even more drawn to this blonde beauty who spoke her mind.

"Smoak. Felicity. Uh, yeah, I mean I usually am but usually, there is not playing blocks lying around quite this far out..." Felicity trailed off, eying the offending blocks curiously. There were no chairs this far out, which made it even more strange..hm. And then she lost her train of thought as Mr- Officer Queen bent down to collect the papers and file folder she dropped. The smile as he straightened up and handed them to her did something to her insides.

"Thank you, M- Officer Queen." She all but whispered, her hand blindly reaching out for the file because her eyes were glued to his. She must have taken them though, because the next thing she knew he was clearing his throat and putting his hands in his pockets.

"Please, call me Oliver." Pause. "And uh...if this isn't too forward, Miss Smoak, I was wondering if...if you..."

Felicity froze. Was he actually asking her out? Well, attempting to anyway. Honestly, she did not know how she felt about that implication. He seemed nice, though his sister might be slightly crazy, and she knows he has been through a lot...she remembers vaguely hearing something of his family being involved in a car accident of some kind, if her memory served right...of course, she'd had other things on her mind around that time...

"Miss Smoak!" The call of her boss jolted the blonde out of her thoughts, blinking as she found Oliver was still miraculously standing in front of her, somehow. She really hoped she hadn't missed his actual question, if he'd been able to spit it out yet..

"Is there a problem here? Because if not, my employee needs to get back to her work." He put an unwanted hand on Felicity's shoulder as he looked on at Oliver, and she glared and side-stepped to avoid him. Oliver seemed to notice the interaction but said nothing of it.

"No, sir."

"Good, then. Miss Smoak, Mrs. Watson really needs that file." And with another pat to her shoulder, the man was gone. Felicity only barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes, it was not like they were even that busy today...

"Are you sure you're all right?" Oliver asked, keeping his voice low, his eyes alight with a strange sort of intensity that she couldn't name.

"Yes, fine. Just, a bit of an annoying boss - I'm sure you know how that can be.." Felicity trailed off, attempting to lighten the mood with a joke, but that weird intensity remained in his eyes. So she tried a different tactic, "You were wondering something..?" She asked, keeping her voice light and hoping it didn't sound too, well, hopeful. Because she needed something good to look forward to in her life, and if he was ready then she was ready to take a chance on him.

Oliver pursed his lips, holding her gaze a moment before he finally responded, "It can wait." He said, voice flat, "I won't hold you up any longer." He added, then turned and walked away.

Felicity sighed, her gaze following him for a moment as he stalked over to a large black man who was also in uniform, seated next to a young man in a red hoodie. Who was in handcuffs. As the other officer started shaking his head at something Oliver had said, Felicity turned and started back to work.

* * *

Oliver Queen was a coward.

That was his only explanation for having backed out of asking her out like that. Yes, they'd been interrupted, and he wasn't sure what was going on between her and her boss but that gave him no right for wanting to deck the man. Something about the interaction had unsettled Oliver because it was clear Felicity wasn't welcoming the attentions, and then she'd called him annoying...but then she'd surprised him by bringing up what he'd been trying to get out. So, he reacted as he normally did when thrown off-kilter - he ran.

Something John Diggle needled him about afterward, and even the Harper kid was smirking at him. Oliver hoped they forget to give him Novacaine when they fill that cavity; anything to wipe that stupid little smirk off his stupid little face...

Harper, a low-level convict who was supposed to be out within the year, had broken a tooth and needed some other work done so, weirdly, Diggle had volunteered them for this assignment. As soon as they arrived and the other man was giving him 'looks' every time a blonde walked by, Oliver finally understood why. Apparently, he'd talked to Thea. Diggle was interested to see if this Felicity person really exsisted and if Oliver was really as gone over her as Thea seemed to think. Diggle had rarely ever seen Queen interested in anything non-work related, so this he needed to see to believe.

And what a show they put on for him. Not five minutes after arriving, the general practitioners door opened and out stepped a blonde wearing heels and glasses, who immediately turned and started walking backwards. Then promptly tripped and papers went flying. John had never seen Oliver move as fast as he did in that moment - one second, he was standing beside him, the next Oliver was standing in front of this Felicity person.

And they actually talked. More than just shy smiles - Thea would be proud.

Until they were interrupted, and Oliver came skulking back. Diggle sighed and shook his head.

"Go back and talk to her, man. You won't know unless you actually ask, and you may not get another chance." Diggle tried to reason with him, but Oliver still looked doubtful. Harper was called to the back, so they started to herd him in that direction, but John had to add, "We don't need to both be here the entire time, so man, do us both a favor and go talk to her before we leave."

It took him all the way up until they were actually leaving for him to work up the courage again. And by that time, he couldn't find her. He approached the woman working the front desk and asked,

"Uh, hi...look, would it be ok if I left a note for someone?"

"For Felicity, right?" The woman with short brown hair asked, seeming much too excited. "If you wait just a second, I can go get her!" She declared, jumping up from her chair.

"Oh, don't-" he started, but she was already gone. Oliver exhaled slowly and lowered his head, trying to work up his courage again - just spit it out, man. How difficult could it be? ...

"What is it, Charla? What - oh, hi." Felicity stopped herself, blinking at Oliver. She was standing in front of him now and he kind of forgot what he was supposed to do.

"I'll go put these files away," the brown haired woman said, winking at him.

"Miss Smoak, I..." pause. She looked confused at first, but was now smiling at him. He could do this. "Are you doing anything Saturday afternoon?" It was said in a rush, but there it was, finally out.

He couldn't take it back - oh no, what if he'd read her wrong and she laughed in his face, or sneered at him, or - or smiled wider?

"There is a little coffee shop around the corner here I like to visit Saturday afternoons." She said, taking another step towards him, somehow still smiling. Oliver deflated, the tension melting out of him, and he smiled too.

"How's 1 o'clock sound?" He found himself saying, surprised but pleased.

"Sounds like a date." For some reason, then her eyes widened. "I mean, not like a date-date, well unless, I mean..."

"I kind of meant it like a date-date, Miss Smoak, but well, I'd like to take it slow and get to know each other first so...get-to-know you date?" Oliver found himself rambling, Thea would be disappointed in him but hey as long as she said yes...

"That sounds good. And it's Felicity. I guess I'll see you Saturday, Oliver." Felicity smiled sweetly at him, and his answering smile made his cheeks hurt. Oliver nodded, still smiling at her, but then they were called back to their respective work loads. Saturday could not get here quickly enough...

* * *

The day had come, the day Oliver was both eagerly anticipating and fearfully dreading. What if she decided he was too boring, too damaged? What if she decided he simply wasn't worth the effort and didn't show at all? Or worse, forgot. He'd be humiliated. Unfortunately, he'd had to work Friday night so these thoughts kept him company, chasing themselves around in his brain all night.

Still, he buried his insecurities and for once in his life was detirmined to focus on the positive. He was having lunch with a beautiful woman today. So, when Diggle came in a few hours early to relieve him (apparently his wife Lyla, who worked fire rescue, had been called away in the wee hours of the morning due to an apartment fire and John had been unable to go back to sleep so he'd brought his grumpy self into work a little early) Oliver was unable to contain his enthusiasm and clocked out, going home to try and rest for a few hours before getting ready. For his date. He grinned again.

He arrived half an hour early, but so what. He waited and wondered what kind of coffee and sandwich she'd get - or maybe a salad?

One o'clock came and went, and no Felicity. Maybe she was just running late.

A few minutes late turned into thirty, and then an hour.

At the two-hour-late mark, Oliver realized she was not coming. One of his fears had come true - she had stood him up. Whatever the reason, the fact remained the same - he was here, and she was not. She'd sent along no message or note. Oliver looked around and sighed, finally getting up. This was the only coffee shop around her workplace, so there was no way he was at the wrong place. He'd been stood up.

He was a fool for thinking she was actually interested in him. She probably was only trying to let him down easy, maybe not wanting to make a scene. ...but she could have just said no, and that would've been fine. There was no need to be so cruel as to get his hopes up only to humiliate and hurt him like this. Dejected, Oliver left the shop and headed out to the sidewalk, pulling out his phone to check it. He had put it on silent so as not to disturb them. Seemed a pretty useless notion, now. Diggle had called him four times and left a message. Deciding he needed a walk and something to take his mind off the blonde's cruelty, he headed for the police station seeing as it wasn't too far away.

When Oliver let himself in the backdoor, Barry was standing there. A kid whom he did not want to see right now.

"Hey Oliver, I heard you had a date earlier, how'd it- go..."

Oliver just grunted at him and walked past him, shaking his head as he heard Barry's, "That great, huh?" then pushed those thoughts away as he searched out Diggle. Who was around the next corner. Unfortunately, Barry was trailing after him.

"I'm sorry your date didn't go well, dude."

"She didn't show." Oliver bit out, clenching his jaw as he turned back to Diggle. "You and Thea were wrong. But that doesn't matter - you called me?" Oliver frowned, he didn't really blame his friends and family, but he did sorta blame them for getting his hopes up. But now he was wondering why Diggle was giving him such a serious look...like he was going to say something that Oliver didn't like.

"Yeah, I'm...I left you a message. Oliver, I know why Felicity didn't show."

-  
So, if you were paying attention I left a big clue about what happened with Felicity. Perhaps not that obvious, but...you'll hopefully find out next week!


	4. Felicity's Past

So I have no medical knowledge, my apologies if it makes no sense. Also I'm super duper excited I got this completed by Sunday, hopefully another installment in a week or so? Hope y'all enjoy this, any questions please ask! The part in all italics is a flashback, by the way, and probably not the one you'd think.

Oh, and I upped it to Teen mainly because of the flashback.

* * *

 _"Yeah, I'm...I left you a message. Oliver, I know why Felicity didn't show."_

Oliver blinked, narrowing his eyes as he tried to make sense of the words coming from his friend's mouth. Because what?

"How?" His simple, clipped response was all he could manage at the moment. He was feeling angry, and decieved; did Diggle somehow have some previously unknown connection to his beautiful blonde..? Wait, no. Not his, now never going to be his.

"Lyla called." Diggle started, and with the knowledge that Digg's wife worked in fire rescue, an uneasy pit began to form in Oliver's stomach. "That apartment fire from this morning? Felicity lives there. Lyla called to tell me her name was listed among the injured. She was taken to the hospital, Oliver."

 _She was taken to the hospital._ That was why she hadn't shown.

He couldn't breathe. Things beyond her control had led to her being injured, taken by ambulance to the hospital where she was possibly fighting for her life while he'd been sitting, annoyed and insulted and contemplating her cruelty, completely safe in that stupid coffee shop.

He needed to see her. He needed to apologize. He needed to...

"Oliver, man, breathe." Diggle's hands were suddenly on his shoulders and the little shake his partner gave him finally got him moving again. Gasping sharply, Oliver turned back towards the parkinglot.

"I need to see her." The words left his lips without concious thought, but the sudden restraining hand on his wrist had him purposefully growling at his friend.

"Sure, and I'll take you, but Oliver...there is something else you should know."

Oliver was about to snap at the other man, tell him it did not matter, he _needed_ to see her, when the next words from his friends mouth were some of the only that could've possibly brought him to a standstill.

"It involves Felicity's safety."

* * *

The first thing Felicity became aware of upon awakening was the pounding in her head. It felt like a couple of giraffes were tap dancing in her temples. Moments later, as sensation was returning to the rest of her being, she felt a red hot, ragged pain in her lungs and throat with every breath she took. At least she could breathe, but man it hurt...

Why did it hurt so much to breathe, and what on _earth_ happened last night?

"I believe she is coming to... Miss Smoak?"

An unknown voice was calling to her, causing her to groan in response. Which she immediately regretted, because apparently any vocalizations also hurt. Wincing, Felicity concentrated and at length was able to pry her bleary eyes open. It took a few blinks before a man in a white lab coat finally came into relative focus. She didn't have her glasses and of course no contacts in, as she'd last been preparing for bed and wondering what tomorrow afternoon would hold...

"It is good to finally see you with us again, Miss Smoak. You were in and out of consciousness when they brought you in, and we had to sedate you while we put a tube in to help you breathe due to the swelling of your airway. The swelling has sense decreased, so just about an hour ago we took the tube out and now and replaced it with an oxygen mask. It'll be quite painful for sometime, but if the pain becomes unbearable, let us know and we'll see what we can do. We'd still like to keep you several more hours for observation, to make sure nothing else developes."

The man in the coat was explaining things she did not understand, because all she could think about was _what time is it_ and that she was going to miss her date. So she voiced her question, only getting out the words, "What" and "time" before proceeding to hack up a lung and _oh god, it hurts._ The man looked up at something on the wall and informed her,

"Just past two in the afternoon. We'd like to keep you til around six, then if you are well enough we can contact someone to pick you up. And it would be best if you didn't try to talk much for the foreseeable future, Miss Smoak."

Felicity's eyes slipped closed and she couldn't feel the tears that leaked out from the corners beyond the strange sensation and sting against her heated, chapped skin. She felt heartbroken because she'd missed their date and Oliver would no doubt think she had stood him up. The rationalization that it was not something that could be helped was overcast in her brain by an enormous weight, heavy on her emtional chest, that she was only now realizing was there...because she'd felt like this once before. The blisters, the fire in her lungs, the pain...

"Miss Smoak? There are a couple of police officers here that wish to discuss the fire with you. I've told them you're not in a condition to speak much, but they still insisted..."

Fire. Heat. Burning. _Trapped_.

Felicity's eyes flew open, because she _had been through this before._

And if it was happening again, it meant _he_ was nearby. He'd found her.

Even though she'd not had a panic attack in years, she was having one now. Her breath came in ragged, stuttering gasps. The pain such a breathing pattern wrought ripped through her with such intensity, but she was defenseless against it. There was nothing she could do to stop it. She knew, rationally speaking, that she was safe in this moment and he was not here - especially if there were police nearby - but these thoughts meant nothing. Right now, her brain was completely irrational and she had no idea how to stop this.

There was a commotion somewhere around her, towards the entrance of the room perhaps, and then there was a different person standing before her, leaning over her. It was another man - this one wearing dark colored clothing, short blonde hair and blue eyes that she could only make out the colors of because he was holding her face in his hands and leaning in close. He was saying something, she could tell because his lips were moving, but she could make no sense of the sounds. The thought crossed her mind that he was oddly familiar, and like really unfairly handsome, but she was not able to dwell on this thought as a sudden cooling sensation entered her veins and she was suddenly so...sleepy...

...

* * *

"What'd you say to her?" Oliver growled at the doctor, his hands still framing Felicity's face even though she had succumbed to the seditive they'd put in her IV and was now unconscious.

"I didn't - if anything, it is your presence here that has set her off. I merely mentioned police were here to dicuss the events surrounding the fire, then she delved into this attack of paranoia. Perhaps you should leave."

Oliver barred his teeth at the doctor, ready to shout that he was not leaving this woman.

But in reality, there was a war going on in his head - because yes, he did want to leave. A huge part of him wanted to go out there right now and find this twerp that had been the main suspect of the fire she'd endured in Boston, but...until he talked to her, he did not have much to go on. Lyla had been able to dig up reports from the fire that had consumed her dorm in Boston - under suspiciously similar circumstances to those they were currently facing - but other than a name (Cooper Seldon) and the fact that this guy had never been formally charged, there was nothing.

He needed to talk to her, and ask her if she'd seen the jerk recently or if he'd made any contact. If she was safe. He couldn't do that with her unconscious, however, and she'd probably be safer if he watched over her from a distance. The thing was, he wasn't sure if he could do that. Swiping at the wetness on her chapped cheeks, Oliver sighed and finally leaned back, breaking the contact. Would she even welcome his protection, his care?

After the events he'd had to endure five years ago, events that ended in less than two weeks but that succeeded in ripping him away from everyone he'd loved in one way or another, he was uncertain if he was even capable of feeling that emotion again. Caring. If you trusted someone enough, loved them, then betrayal could follow. If you put your heart on the line, it could end up with a bullet in it.

Or the limo you were in could be T-boned by an SUV and you could spend a little over the next week and a half running for your life.

Oliver shuddered, forcibly shoving those memories to the side and focusing again on the blond in the bed. Thea had slowly been helping him thaw, helping him when he needed it whether he wanted to not - she was family, and she was never giving up on him. Even when he'd given up on himself.

One thing that had kept him waking up in the morning was the knowledge that someone needed him. Thea had needed him, less these days but she still did. He would never turn away from an innocent in danger, never turn away from someone needing help. And right now, Felicity Smoak needed his help.

* * *

 _It was a cold day in late February...and Felicity had just told Cooper that she was changing her major from a cyber degree for one of dentistry. The mechanics of the mouth and the details of the teeth placement, names, shapes and workings had long fascinated her. She would never fully leave her love of the cyber world behind, of course, but she was just interested in taking a different path. Interested to see what her new boyfriend would think of it._

 _He had not taken it well, Felicity thought with a frown as she went about her evening routine. He'd yelled at her for wasting her talents, for destorying her future, when it was clear that he himself was more interested in the chaos they could cause using their cyber smarts than the actual code itself. And that was one reason for her change - did he want her for her, or was it more for her abilities?_

 _When he'd stormed out and called her some creative but never-to-be-repeated names, her answer was clear. Still, she hadn't actually gone and changed her major yet...but with him acting like this, there was no way she wanted to stay here._

 _She went to bed that night with the hope that she'd see him again before she left, for them to have a civil conversation._

 _She woke up hours later to a smoke-filled room, alarm sirens screaming at her - from the room next door that she shared a wall with, strangely not the one in her dorm. Almost choking because seriously, there was a ridiculous amount of smoke already in this room, she rolled out of bed and dropped to the floor. Thankful she'd worn pants to bed and an over sized t-shirt, she started crawling on her hands and knees towards the door. Wrapping her hand in the shirt material, she lifted up to grab the handle, just in case it was hot to the touch._

 _So, it was not hot but...the weird thing was, it wouldn't budge either. It wouldn't turn, almost as if it were stuck, or locked. Locked, of course. Felicity cursed to herself and, coughing, dove for her purse on the other side of the door, surely the keys were in there..._

 _Her eyes were starting to water by the time her too-warm fingers closed around the cold metal, and, pulling her shirt collar over her mouth, she tried the door again._

 _Only the lock would not engage, it wouldn't even go in all the way...almost as if something had been wedged in there to block the key, to prevent its being unlocked._

 _Panic welling up, Felicity scrambled for her only other method of escape: the window. She didn't care if she were three floors up, she would not stand a chance if she stayed here. She could feel the heat from the door and the handle was now much hotter than it had been intially._

 _Easing herself up once she'd reached the window, she unlocked the seal, braced a shoulder and_ pushed.

 _The window did not move, not at all._

 _Panic flooded her system now because, what the heck!? She tried again and again, pushing and shoving and hitting at the window with all her might, but it wouldn't move, it wouldn't even break. She had no idea what to do now. She turned and started pounding on the window, yelling. She could see lights on the pavement below, but she had no idea what was going on because she couldn't see any other details, she didn't have her glasses on nor contacts in._

 _She hit the window again, then backed up and fell to the ground, coughing and crawling her way to the door again. She tried the handle one last time if for some miracle it suddenly worked, but the moment her hand wrapped around it she winced and yanked it back; it was too hot to touch. Tears rolling down her cheeks now, she yelled and yelled for help, pounding on the door. She was trapped, she was_ trapped, and _oh god she was going to die here... She'd never told her mother that she didn't truly hate her, she'd never get to see her again, she'd never get to eat sweet, cool, tasty yummy ice cream again, she'd never get to see the endings to her favorite shows..._

 _She was unconscious by the time the firemen broke down her door._

* * *

Felicity awoke with a gasp, pain tearing through her throat immediately turning it to a moan. With those memories running fresh through her battered brain, she really didn't want to return to the land of the living. But there was a pleasant voice calling out to her, calling her, saying her name. She decided she wanted to give this voice a chance, she wanted to see its speaker.

A fluttering of eyelashes, and at length, blue eyes met blue. _Oliver Queen_ , her mind immediately supplied. He was here, why was he here? Her thoughts turned to their never-was date and she interally cringed. She'd let him down, whether she'd wanted to or not.

"Sorry," she wheezed, eyes filling with tears. Oliver frowned and then shook his head, for some reason.

"Don't apologize - you have absolutely nothing to be sorry for." He paused as he actually bit his lip. "Me, on the other hand...I'm the one that should apologize, for thinking some not-nice things. I didn't know what had happened, I didn't know it was something so completely out of your control. I was mad at you...and for that I'm sorry."

But it wasn't...what was he talking about? If she'd never involved herself with a creep like Cooper to begin with, this situation would never have happened...and her mind was blending the two fires, but she didn't care, because even if he was not responsible for the second, well, she could blame it on her ex anyway. Her ex who may still be out there somewhere, waiting. She gulped, then winced.

Anyway - to her, it wasn't something as completely out of her control as Oliver seemed to think.

"But I'd still...I'd like to help, I'd like to be there for you in whatever way you'll let me, if that's ok with you." He spoke again, keeping his voice low but his gaze connected to hers so she could see he meant every word, and whoa when had he leaned in that close?

Then his words caught up with her, and she realized what he was really offering, and she kind of froze. Because he didn't even know her, and she didn't really know him, so how could he offer his devotion so seemingly easy? It was...too good to be true. It couldn't possibly be real. She must still be dreaming, she told herself, blinking slowly but thise blues remained trained on her.

What was she supposed to say?


	5. Doctor (s)

A/N: I have no real excuse for taking this long, just that I am sorry and hope you all will still enjoy reading this. We see another familiar face here, probably for the 1st and last time, but we'll see. Thank you all for reading & commenting! It means very much to me. Still no beta, mistakes are all my own.

* * *

Oliver wanted to help her, he'd said. He wanted to be there for her. His words kept tumbling around in her mind as she gazed at him, but she was having trouble making sense of them. His gaze seemed to be trying to tell her something, but that along with his spoken words, well, she just wasn't comprehending this.

"Why?" She finally whispered, her heart still beating wildly from her nightmare as more questions tumbled through her mind; such as, Why her, Why would he want to inconvenience himself for her, Why does he care?

Oliver licked his lips and looked like he was about to answer, when suddenly a man in a white lab coat appeared next to him and started to speak.

"Excuse me, sir, but I'm going to have to ask you to step out for a few minutes while we tend to this young lady's care." The doctor spoke, and Oliver felt like growling and snapping at him again. Why did it always seem like they were getting interrupted at every turn? Knowing that he couldn't interfere, even though he didn't want to go, Oliver sighed and stood up. Placing a hand on her arm, he leaned forward a little and said,

"I'll be back in a couple minutes, then we can talk."

Then he walked out into the hallway and took a deep breath. If he was going to do this, try and actually be of genuine assistance to this woman, then he needed to get his self-control back under, well, control. Diggle stood, his back against the wall, several feet down the somewhat busy hallway. A middle-aged woman with short brown hair came close to Oliver, something about her nagging at his mind - he thought he'd seen her before, but couldn't place where. She stopped in front of him, seeming surprised to see him.

"Oh, Agent Queen! ...oh, or, er, it is actually Officer, isn't it? Sorry, I've been reading too many spy novels...anyway, how nice to see you again! Not the best of circumstances, however..." the woman trailed off, clasping her hands in front of her and giving Oliver an honest smile. He tilted his head and gave her a look that must have got his confusion or puzzlement across, because the next thing he knows she is continuing with,

"Ah! So sorry, Charla Watson, at your service, sir. Workmate and friend to our dear Miss Smoak, I've come to check on her in fact. My husband James and I have a nice guest bedroom, two in fact, and with the children all moved out I figured I would invite her to - I mean, that is unless she..." Charla trailed off and waved a hand toward Oliver, not so subtly hinting at something. Something which had crossed his mind but which he was pretty certain the blonde would have turned down anyway.

"Miss Watson, from the Dentistry. Of course, I remember. I...haven't gotten to speak with her yet, but I'll pass on your invitation." Oliver paused, glancing over at Diggle briefly and then around the hallway before taking a step closer and, his voice slightly hushed, said, "Tell me, Miss Watson, have you or Miss Smoak ever noticed if there have been any unusual occurrences around the office lately? Any strange people hanging around, unknown packages, anything out of the ordinary?" Oliver questioned, looking at the woman earnestly.

Charla paused, looking down as she thought, then slowly shook her head.

"No, I don't believe so. You think she may have been targeted?" Another pause, then her eyes lit as she gasped and looked up. "You don't think it has to do with when her dorm caught fire do you?! Oh my..."

Oliver leaned away from her as he replied, "I can't answer that, anything at this point is only speculation. I only wondered if there had been anything out of the ordinary." Oliver back tracked with a decisive nod, then stood there a moment, looked around again, and waited for an orderly to pass by before he dug out his wallet.

"There is one more thing you can do for me, Miss Watson...go out and purchase the things Miss Smoak will need while staying with you. You know her, so you'll know what she needs." With that, Oliver handed over a credit card. Charla eyed it as if it would bite her, before hesitantly reaching out for it. "Anything she needs. I would like to pay for it, help her out some." He concluded, after she had finally taken it.

"You already are, and...all right, but, you know she won't like this, don't you?" Charla had to ask, slipping the card into a pocket in her purse. Then she looked at him again and added, "Anything?"

"I'll handle it - and yes, whatever she needs. I want to be sure she'll have it." Oliver nodded and was about to dismiss her, assuring again he would pass on the invitation, when he stopped because - "Hold on, would it - may I have your address?"

If he couldn't do anything else, then he fully intended to be the one she escaped from the hospital with.

* * *

The Doctor was still not letting Oliver into the room, and he was not happy about it. He wouldn't even move far from the door, despite Diggle's attempts to get him to sit down or at least stop pacing in front of the door. Oliver had just turned to make his nineth round when a different small blond woman suddenly appeared in his path.

"I heard some frowny-faced officer was over here, scaring the orderlies, and knew right away it'd be you. Thought I'd come over and say hi." The woman crossed her arms and grinned up at him, her expression quite cheeky. He was not in the mood for her sass; if she could get the doctor to let him in though...

Wait, now. She a friend, and though he used to use people in his past in quite worse ways than this, he needed to do better. He knew that he always needed to do better, but now, for what felt like the first time, he genuinely wanted to try. And the woman before him had gone toe-to-toe with him a time or two before, right when he'd needed it, so she deserved the best he could give. She'd been a good friend to him these past couple of years.

"Sara, hi. I didn't know you had a shift today." He greeted her, trying hard to lessen the tension in his frame. She seemed to notice anyway, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I traded with Sandra so she could go to her aunt's anniversary party. Sorry I didn't send a note." Sara responded, a bit sarcastically, before glancing over at Digg.

"Hey Digg, how's it going?" Oliver visibly tensed again, because Sara knew of this pair who to get the answers out of...

"Oh, same 'ol, same 'ol." Oliver breathed a sigh of relief, maybe he wouldn't- but then John clearedhis throat and continued. "Except, this one here's upgraded from regular fool to love-sick fool." Oliver didn't have to turn to see the manure-eating grin on his so-called friend's face. Sara's eyes lit up and her lips parted on an eager 'oh,' and he so could've kicked John for that.

"Oh, really? Do tell." Oliver thwacked himself in the face and turned, returning to his pacing while making certain it was away from them, those juveniles discussing his nonexistent love life. He was certain Diggle was going over every detail, starting from the encounter with Thea no doubt, because if his friends and family were anything, they were gossips.

Suddenly, Sara was standing in front of him again, a hand on his arm and a look of empathy in her eyes.

"I'll talk to Dr. Sanchez and let you have more visiting time. Though from what I've heard, Ollie, she'll be just fine." Sara assured him in a soft tone, and not for the first time, Oliver was very thankful to have her as a friend in his life.

"Thank you, Sara." It was all he could muster, but he did give a real smile. Sara nodded, searched his face a moment and then nodded again, smiling herself as she turned and disappeared into The Room.

Not even five minutes later, she came back out with the fuming Dr. Sanchez and waved Oliver on in. He did not need to be told twice, so he slipped right on inside. Felicity was still laid out on the bed, though from the startled blink she gave him, he supposed she wasn't expecting his return. She would've gotten that wrong, then.

"I, uhm..." her last question to him had been why, why he wanted to help her so bad...He'd been saved from having to answer before, but now, because he still wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that, he deflected. "Charla was out there, she...she wanted to invite you to stay with her for a while." A pause, as he looked anywhere but at her. "Which is...good, very kind of her - I mean, I'd thought too, because Thea and I have a guest bed too at our house, but, well you'd naturally, I mean she's a friend and coworker and you know her well unlike-" a warm hand on his arm stopped the flow of words, and he'd never been so thankful for human contact. He never spouted off uncontrollably like that, where the heck had that come from?!

She was smiling. Almost beaming, as much as she could, straight at him. The sparkle in her eyes told him that if she could, she'd be laughing right now. A warm feeling settled in his chest at that thought, seeing her smile, hearing her laugh and knowing that he'd been the cause...

Oh brother. He really did sound like a love-sick fool, didn't he?

"Charla," she softly whispered, and he nodded because of course she'd prefer her friend, watching her grimace at the pain but squeezed his arm anyway, then trail her fingers - consciously or not, but it left his skin afire - all the way down to his fingertips then tapped on them. He opened his hand and watched in fascination as she wound together the tips of their fingers, from the lower knuckle down. A slow smile spread across his face, because this display of affection meant that she was interested in him...did it not? He was pretty certain it did, and had a bit of a time in controlling himself to keep his hand still and not crush her hand within his, as was his desire.

He found himself wanting so much more than fingertips, but if that was all she felt comfortable giving, he would be more than content.

"Would you... Do you need a ride to her house? I could take you, after you're released...please, let me do something to help." He asked, looking into her eyes, adding a gentle squeeze to her fingers. She waited a moment, staring at his face and seeming to be seriously weighing her thoughts.

After a moment or two of hesitation, she gave him a nod.

He smiled.

Hours later, after they finally released her, Oliver was helping her into his civilian vechile, a four-door sedan. He had a bike, but very much doubted she woukd appreciate that right now. Thea usually preferred the sedan when he had to take her to school or pick her up, too.

Diggle had gotten picked up by his wife a while ago, so now it was just the two of them. Once Oliver was sure she was safely and comfortably seated, including buckled in, he started heading for the address Charla had given him. It wasn't all that long of a drive, sadly, and before he knew it they were parked in the driveway of a modest ranch-style home. He could see Charla and a man that must be her husband waiting there on the porch, but Oliver had one last thing before he'd let Felicity out of his sight again. As he opened her door, he handed her a piece of paper he'd prepared earlier and said,

"This is my personal number...call or text me if you need anything, ok? Anything at all."

Felicity stared at the piece of paper in her hand, blinking rapidly for a moment, before smiling up at him. She grabbed onto his hand, using it to balance herself as she stood, and while still having her feet in the car she leaned close to him and used the height advantage such a stance gave her and kissed him on the cheek. A quick peck, and then she was slowly heading for the porch.

Now, he really couldn't be blamed for the smile he wore the rest of the evening.


	6. Plans

A/N: Sorry this is a slight bit shorter, but hey a bit faster update? Heheh. Well, here we are and I hope you all enjoy it. I don't know how really all of the, uhm, police proceedings here might work so uh, creative license and all that? I hope it makes a sort of sense at any rate, but yes, thank you everyone for reading and reviewing! :)

* * *

The first day or two home, well at her temporary home, she was so exhausted that she slept most of the time. Though, when she was up and having easily swallowable sustenance at the table by the window, she did see the same police cruiser pass the house a time or two. She tried very hard not to read into that. It could be a good thing or it could mean a bad thing, so really, she was determined to put it out of her mind.

What she couldn't put out of her mind was the expense and trouble her friend and coworker had gone through for her - she was surprised to find a few comfy, non-burned and soot covered outfits waiting for her. They ranged from a stylish dress to lounge around the house wear, including a nightgown. Her friend couldn't know that she preferred sleeping in oversized shirts, but she was so grateful for everything that she didn't say a word even if she could. And the non-melted toiletries were such an awesome plus.

The beyond any doubt greatest plus, however, was the most surprising and by far most expensive gift - the latest i-phone along with a six month unlimited plan. Seeing as all her electronics at home had been fried, she really could not be more grateful. Her friend was being a little quiet on the matter, and something about her manner every time Felicity tried to thank her for the items and plan to repay her sent red flags to waving in Felicity's mind. There was a mystery here, and she was determined to search it out.

After sleep, much more sleep.

Until she was woken sometime mid-day by a hushed conversation going on on the other side of her bedroom door. It sounded like Charla...and possibly Officer Diggle, Oliver's partner, and Oliver himself? Even though the voices were hushed, she could somehow tell that Oliver was angry. Easing her lower limbs out from under the covers, Felicity sat on the edge of the bed and collected herself for a moment. She'd taken a nap in one of her lounging outfits, sweatpants and a long-sleeved t-shirt that had three adorable puppies on it, one in a leather jacket, the middle one wearing a red fez and a scarf, and the one on the right 3D glasses.

Her skin would sometimes get to feeling hot but she still got shivers quite often, hence all the long garments. She slipped her feet into the house shoes waiting at the edge of the bed for her and then slowly stood. The voices were starting to fade away from the door, but as she suspected that they were talking about her, she was going to have her say whether they liked it or not. She ambled on over the door and slowly opened it.

They hadn't made it very far, only a few paces down the hallway when they had apparently stopped again to have a discussion. Their backs were turned to her so she slowly moved forward. Digg turned and noticed her movement from the corner of his eye and was the first to address her,

"Miss Smoak!" He said, loud enough to gain the attention of the other two. "I'm sorry if we disturbed you, we didn't mean to wake you."

"I told them that you were resting, but.." Charla paused and bit her lip, then sighed and waved towards the living room. "Since you are up now, why don't we all sit down? And maybe I can get you a water or something?"

Felicity shook her head, declining the offer. Right now she only wanted answers to the strange behavior going on here today. Though it felt as if everything had been off-kilter since the fire, so, maybe she was just imagining things... one glance at Oliver, who was trailing behind her with a...well what she could only describe as a 'constipated look' on his face, and she was rethinking that. Maybe it wasn't just her. She headed towards the couch and Oliver took a seat next to her, still saying nothing.

"Miss Smoak.." Officer Diggle said, but Felicity quietly interrupted him.

"Felicity."

Diggle nodded and then continued, "The initial reports assessing the fire damage at your apartment have...revealed something of concern." Here he paused, and if she didn't know any better, it looked as if he really didn't want to say what he was about to but had no choice. Her hands went to grip the cushions in preparation for whatever blow was coming, and instantly she felt her hand covered by another's hand. She knew it was Oliver and silently thanked him for his support, but she could not break eye contact with Officer Diggle at this moment.

"The fire started from inside your apartment, Felicity. The walls of your living room in particular were coated with a certain type of accelerant consistent to that which was used in the previous Boston fire. I'm afraid we will have to take you in for questioning..."

Felicity didn't hear that part, her brain did not get beyond the words, 'started from inside your apartment.'

Inside.

 _Inside._

That meant he had been in her home, right next door to where she'd been sleeping. He had broken into her home and she had never known!

Before she could formally acknowledge that her internal freakout was becoming a very external one, Oliver was suddenly kneeling in front of her and was holding her hands, speaking softly to hear and telling her over and over again that she was safe. That he was here with her, she was safe here. He was here, she was safe.

After another few moments, her mind unfroze and she finally started to let herself believe that. She met his gaze as she worked to even out her breathing, and slowly she nodded. His gaze seemed to go right through her, but if he could see how weak and crumbled and all jumbled up she felt inside, well then he didn't judge. He simply nodded and slowly went to resume his seat at her side. She was unashamed to admit that she snuggled close into his side right away. He didn't seem to mind, either; he even put an arm around her.

"Does she really need to be taken in, Digg?" Oliver hissed over her head, and ah, they seemed to have come to the seat of his main contention.

"I don't think she's guilty either, Oliver, but there are some questions that have to be addressed...and given this latest information, her safety may well be at risk." Diggle quietly reasoned.

Guilty? What? They thought she burned down her own home, not once but twice...? In the same way, too. She took offense to this. How stupid did they think she was?!

"So throw her in a cell to keep her safe, that's what you're saying?" Oliver shot back, and Felicity could feel the arm around her tighten a bit.

"She might be safer there than here - and there is Mr. and Mrs. Watson to think of. If they get caught in the cross hairs..." Digg trailed off, and despite Charla's sputtering protests that she and her husband could take care of themselves, this more than all else made her pale and give it serious consideration. Because if something happened to Charla because Felicity was too stubborn...

She knew Cooper, and she knew he would not care who he hurt in his efforts to get at her. He'd already hurt countless others in the apartments surrounding hers, and now that she knew for sure he was back, well she couldn't let the Watsons be sitting ducks, either.

"I'll go." She whispered, halting all conversation. She stared Diggle down as she said it, attempting to sit up a little straighter. She heard Oliver whisper her name and put a gentle pressure on her shoulder so that she would turn and face him.

"You don't have to if you don't want to." Oliver quietly reminded her. She gave him a half-smile then squeezed his hand.

"I want to." She said, then coughed several times and winced because, ouch. So, talking...still hurts. Check. Coughing, hurts much worse. Double check.

"Are you sure, Sweetheart? I mean...you really don't have to, just on account of James and I." Charla had to put in, but now that her mind was made Felicity would not be swayed.

"We have a safe house here in the city - we can conduct our business there, and you will be safe there, Felicity." Diggle tried to reassure her but, given the knowledge that Cooper had been in her home, she doubted she'd ever really feel safe anywhere ever again.

* * *

She was really doing this. Charla had given her a duffel bag that she could pack with the few things that were hers, waiting in the room with her and helping wherever she could while the men waited outside and made arrangements to take her to that safe house Diggle had mentioned. Charla had disappeared for a moment as Felicity had gathered up her toothbrush and hair items, but had returned with a sly grin as Felicity dumped the items into her pack.

"Almost finished, dear?" Charla asked, noticing Felicity take one last look around before nodding as she zipped up the duffel. Charla started to frown and reached for her hand, pulling her into a gentle hug.

"You feel free to come back anytime - and I mean day or night, whenever. Our door will always be open." Charla leaned back and actually sniffed, then patted her shoulder. "And I hope to see you back at work before too much longer. The quicker all this business is settled, the better. But you'd better stay safe, dear." Then she grinned and pressed something into Felicity's palm. "And you'd better give this back to your man, he's certainly let me borrow it long enough." she winked, and then fled the room.

Felicity blinked, staring after her for a second, then looked down to the item in her hand. It was a credit card.

A credit card in the name of one Oliver Queen.

He'd let Charla borrow his credit card? Confusion filled her, before she glanced over to her duffel and the brand new phone sitting next to it. Realization shot through her, followed by humiliation mixed with fury, tempered by a strange emotion she felt in an oddly keen way but really didn't want to give voice to. Why had Oliver not mentioned any of this? Well, if he thought she could be so easily bought off, then he had another thing coming. She grabbed her phone and stomped out to the living room. They were both there, so she forcibly pressed the card into his stomach with the hissed words,

"I _will_ pay you back." She got out the words, no matter how much it hurt her throat, then marched right on out the door. She heard Diggle laughing as a confused but pouty-face Oliver followed her out, Digg going to retrieve her bag before joining them, and then they headed out.

"It - I was not trying to buy you off, I was simply making sure you had everything you needed for a fresh start." Oliver was saying, attempting to explain his actions to the silent blonde in the back seat.

"Yeah, because he always gives his girlfriend's best friend his visa and says, 'Go crazy.'" Digg commented sarcastically from the driver's seat.

"John!" Oliver yelped at the same time Felicity gave a silent gasp and stared wide-eyed at the driver. "I do not…" the boys up front proceeded to bicker, but Felicity was still stunned to silence because, well, because in Oliver's response to John's claim, he had not corrected his partner as to the actual non-girlfriend part of that statement. And while she really didn't want to read into that with all that was going on at present, well...she supposed they were sort of dating, even if the actual first date had never yet got to take place?

As they drove on towards the safe house, something peculiar happened. Felicity's phone pinged with an incoming text. At first she assumed it was Charla, with another plea to be careful or something of a similar vein, but it was a message from an unknown number. Dread swirled inside her stomach as she stared down at it, the sounds around her fading into nothingness, before she finally clicked on it.

 _Seeking solace in the arms of the cops? Tsk, tsk. And you used to be so brave._

As she was staring at it, another from the same number pinged in. She gasped in horror and her blood turned to ice.

 _You can run, babe, but you can't hide._


	7. Reactions

Uhm. Have I mentioned I stink at naming chapters? Yes, anyway. This is a longer chapter, the next one may be shorter but hopefully not too much. The next one may also not be out for a week or two, but we'll see. Thanks so much to everyone that has kudos & commented! I'm behind in replying I believe, but know every one means a lot~ Thanks again and happy readings!

* * *

Oliver calling her name from the front seat finally broke through her panicked haze, and she turned wide-eyed to him. He took one look at her face and then told Digg to,

"Pull over." Diggle glanced at him curiously but, once it was safe, did as instructed. Oliver glanced at him but was too intent of Felicity in the back seat and why her face had just gone so terribly pale and why, exactly, she had been looking at her phone in such horror. And he could tell the beginnings of another panic attack were on the way. Once the car stopped, he then told her to,

"Scoot over." Oliver exited from his door, closed it, then immediately opened hers and crowded her until she did scoot over enough for him to sit. Then he closed the door and reached for her phone. It went easily from her slack fingers as she tried once again to control her stuttered breathing. Because...if he could see them, then he knew who Oliver was, and possibly what he was coming to mean to her, and, he wasn't safe. No one was safe.

"Digg, Seldon found her. Sent her a couple threatening texts." A pause, then he locked eyes with his partner and said, "He can see us. He knows we're here." Diggle stared at him a beat, then nodded and carefully merged back into traffic.

"We'll take the long way, then." Diggle calmly stated, but it did nothing to quell Felicity's nerves. She knew he could hack into any traffic cam and follow them that way, there was little they could do to shake him off now. She really, really regretted having taught him that trick. Oliver touched her hand, reclaiming her attention, and when he gave her the phone back it no longer had those stupid texts on the screen.

"Hey, it's gonna be ok." Oliver tried to reassure her, his arm coming around her shoulders slowly. "If nothing else, then he has shown his hand and we have something we can use against him." his words were doing little to calm her, but his arm was warm and she liked that. After another failed deep breath, her throat was really starting to let her know how not in favor it was of her erratic breathing and really began to hurt. She groaned and, without thinking, buried her head into Oliver's chest.

They both froze a moment at the intimate contact, but as she started to realize what she was doing, blushed, and leaned away, he wrapped his other arm around her and held her tightly to him. She had no choice but to lean into him now, and after a few moments, she relaxed and finally allowed herself to do just that. Suddenly feeling so very tired, and now so nice and warm, she found herself beginning to doze off…

An unknown amount of time later, Felicity came-to enough to realize that she was moving. Or, more accurately, she was being moved. But she still felt that pleasant warmth pressed into her side, so, still mostly asleep and not wanting to lose that, she snuggled further into it. She felt arms that she hadn't actually realized were there tighten around her, and then a fuzzy sense of awareness started to prickle at the back of her mind as she heard the murmur of voices somewhere in the air around her, somewhere close. And, she couldn't help but notice, one of those voices was female and unfamiliar. Sleepy eyes blinked open, and she found an unfamiliar but very attractive woman smiling down at her.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty." the woman teased, and Felicity just blinked at her. She was standing a little too close though so she found herself shrinking once again into the warmth behind her. The warmth that...was now shaking slightly, like someone laughing...wait.

She looked up and sure enough there was Oliver Queen, smiling down at her. She squeaked and flailed as she scrambled to get out of his arms, but he held fast. For whatever reason, he wouldn't let her go. Not even in the face of the unknown but unfairly attractive woman standing around with them.

"Felicity, this is Officer McKenna Hall. She'll be keeping you company here at the safe house." Oliver introduced them, and McKenna looked between the two before saying,

"Nice to meet you, Miss Smoak, though I wish it were under different circumstances." she glanced at Oliver one last time then leaned closer over Felicity and whispered, "You seem to have this one wrapped around your pinky, and I'd very much like to know how that happened. Trade some secrets." McKenna winked and Felicity turned pink. Oliver cleared his throat, having clearly heard their exchange.

"Well, it is late and Felicity's had a long day. I'll see her to her room." he said, and without waiting for anyone's response, turned and carried his girl up the stairs.

Yes. His girl. He was done denying it, what with everything going on and the obvious fact that she was becoming more at ease in his company. He would stay by her side if that is what kept her calm. He couldn't deny the pleasure he felt each time she sought out his warmth, even if it was just snuggling deeper against him, or how she had felt comfortable enough to fall asleep against him. That had meant a lot, someone trusting him that much. Her, trusting him that much.

Diggle had already brought her duffel into the room, so Oliver carefully laid her on the bed then asked if she wanted to change. He'd bring the bag over if she did. She shook her head but held onto his wrist.

"Uh…" Felicity desperately wanted to ask him not to leave, to stay and sit with her at least until she fell asleep again, but found she couldn't voice the words. This time, it had little to do with the pain in her throat, instead it was the pain in her heart because she knew she had very little right to ask him to do such a thing. No doubt he had his sister to return to, so who was she? Family always came first.

Plus, there was the little matter of the possibility of Cooper coming after him if he stuck around...

So, even though she felt terrified at the prospect of staying here, in this so-called safe house with a complete stranger, she loosened her grip and let her hand fall away from his wrist. She would let him go, no matter how much she wanted him to stay.

There must have been some look in her eyes, however, because she really did not expect the next words he spoke.

"Would you like me to stay?" he offered, and it was the best offer she'd heard probably in her entire life. She smiled tentatively, but needed to know something first,

"Thea?" Oliver blinked at her, as if surprised that she remembered his sister's name after only having seen her, what? Once?

"School's out this week so she's over at a friend's house for a couple days." he told her, watching as her whole body seemed to relax and then she was gripping his hand and, though slowly at first, she was soon enthusiastically nodding her head yes, she did want him to stay. To heck with Cooper, she could worry about him tomorrow.

"Ok," he chuckled, feeling a little more at ease himself because, well, honestly he hadn't wanted to leave her here alone either, not after those texts. Not that she would be alone, McKenna would be here to monitor things, and he trusted her with his life, but...still. He wanted to be the one watching over his girl. If that was selfish, then he would gladly be selfish tonight.

"Let me get a chair." he said, reaching back blindly for the wingback he knew was back there somewhere. A large part of her silently sighed in relief that he'd not misunderstood her invitation, her meaning of staying the night with her, because she was not ready for any solid or extensive displays of affection. Even if she had felt so safe and secure when she'd fallen asleep in his arms earlier, sharing a bed (even in a platonic way) was much different. Still. She couldn't help but feel bad at her neediness, because that chair looked awfully uncomfortable.

"'m...sorry," she whispered as he sat, still holding her hand. He looked over at her with confusion clearly written across his facial features, so she explained. "...Clingy." she got out, scrunching her nose up though even she was not sure whether that particular facial expression was from pain or embarrassment, probably a mixture of both.

"Hey, you have nothing to apologize for...honestly, I'm not sure how much sleep I would've gotten tonight anyway." He paused and stared at her for a moment, then smiled softly. "But, it's been a long day. You should get some sleep, if you can."

"Same," Felicity whispered, staring pointedly at him until he nodded, then she curled slightly towards him and the hand he still held, and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Felicity woke early the next morning to an unpleasant tingling coming from her left arm. It was the kind of sensation you got when you'd accidentally slept on your limb, therefore cutting off the circulation and hence the tingly feeling. Only, opening her eyes revealed it wasn't her doing the sleeping on her arm. She blinked a few times to clear her vision, but sure enough, what she saw remained the same.

Oliver Queen had fallen fast asleep, leaning his upper body over her bed and using her arm as a pillow.

She...really did not know what to make lf that. Feeling her face flush as she watched him breathe in and out, his face turned towards her, Felicity took this opportunity to really study his face. She wanted badly to move her arm because it was going numb pretty fast, but she could not bring herself to disturb him. He looked so peaceful and at ease...the hard lines on his face had all softened up; he looked so young. A part of her wanted to reach out with her free hand and trace along his exposed cheekbone, but she wouldn't dare for fear of him waking and catching her at it.

A quiet sound in the doorway made her look up, and there stood Oliver's partner, John Diggle. She blushed again as she realized what they must look like, but also for the fact that, after she'd fallen asleep in the car last night, well she had no idea what'd happened to him. Surely he hadn't had to stay because Oliver had? She suddenly felt really bad, because if he hadn't been able to go home last night because of her…

"I haven't seen him that restful since...well, since I met him." Diggle said quietly, raising a brow as he lifted his gaze from Oliver's sleeping form to meet Felicity's blinking eyes. These contacts had been in for several days now, they probably were reaching their limit soon and she needed to see about getting new glasses again because she really missed them, and oh Diggle was talking again.

"You're good for him. I know you don't know either of us very well yet, but I like you and it's not my place to say but he probably won't, so, he cares about you too. And he's been through hell, so he's a good companion to have if you're going through it, too." John paused and looked back to Oliver as he considered his next words. Felicity lay there, staring at him. "He's been lost for a time, and had a crazy son-of-a-gun chasing him down for the kill. He survived, somehow." Another pause. "All I'm saying, is...if someone could understand what you're going through, it's probably this one. And I'm pretty positive, if you ever wanted to talk, he would listen. So would I." Diggle smiled sadly at her and added, clearing his throat, "After your throat gets better, anyway...McKenna wants to know if you'd like a tea."

Felicity smiled and gave a slight nod, still taking in the words he'd said as she watched him go, because wow. Oliver cared about her? He'd been hunted down? They both were willing to listen whenever she was well?

Honestly, there wasn't much more to tell than what they already knew. And seriously, from the visits to the Dentistry, they had to have an incling for how much she could talk. And talk. And talk. And it didn't even have to be on topic! Did they really want to subject themselves to that?

Oliver had been through something awful already, apparently chased by a crazy person, so maybe he knew a little bit about having a stalker like this. But probably not an electronic one. She wasn't sure really how much he could help anyway, and well, she was beginning to care for him too and he had Thea to consider. She really didn't want to be the reason he'd suffer through more awfulness, not for her.

Suddenly, there was a snuffling noise coming from the man half on her bed. He was waking up. She looked down to see him rub the tip of his head against her hip, then saw more than felt his fingers flex around the hand he still held, and oh...there went that blush again, because the little fact that he'd actually held her hand all night had escaped her. Soon enough, bleary blue eyes were blinking up at her, followed by a lazy smile.

"'Mornin'," he greeted, grinning, then froze a moment as he realized his position and there was a sudden color rising to his cheeks and she had to bite the inside of her cheek, because it went all the way up to the tips of his ears. He blinked at her and then leaned slowly back and away from her, stretching the kinks out of his back but somehow still holding her hand. Until all the blood came rushing back to her fingers and she couldn't conceal her hiss of pain.

As she tried to draw her hand back to massage it, she found two hands already there.

"I'm so sorry, I shouldn't… I didn't mean to fall asleep on you, I'm sorry." he whispered, never looking up from his task of returning feeling to her long-numbed arm. Which he was doing beautifully. Before she could stop herself, she found her other hand moving towards his hairline, and when he felt her fingertips meet his scalp, he froze and looked at her. She smiled at him and shook her head that no, she didn't mind. Then she moved her hand as if to tuck hair behind his ear, only his hair was not long enough for that. So she grinned and patted him on the head then pushed against his chest to get him to stand, because she really needed to visit the bathroom before they headed down for breakfast. He grumbled something as he paused to wait for her in the hallway, but she smiled and ignored him, rather enjoying this playful feeling.

It was too bad that she had already decided the best thing for now would be to push him away, at least until things with Coop were settled. Washing her hands and staring at her reflection in the mirror above the sink, Felicity sighed, her insides feeling all twisted up, as she wondered whether or not this would be the right course of action. She really didn't want to lose him, which was why she felt she had to do it.


	8. Oliver's Past

Sorry I am so late in updating...my muse was not working, and not too sure about this one but here we go. Thanks very much to everyone who has reviewed and continues to read this ~ it means a lot. :) Italics is a flashback, again. Pretty much. Well, you'll see.

Also warning, in the flashback there are some very unhappy things. Though it is mostly told in past-tense, it could still be disturbing for some, so fair warning.

On a side note, for those lovely viewers that bother to read my notes, I have a question:  
I've been toying with the idea to rename this story, Heads We Win (Tails We'll Try Again)  
But...I'm not sure. Thoughts?

* * *

Later on that morning, Oliver and Diggle were called in on an urgent matter. Felicity was a little reluctant to let him go, as she knew it would be a while before she would see him again. Not that she would do anything dramatic - again, she wasn't unintelligent - it would simply be for his safety, and some space would be beneficial for her to sort out these feelings she's having, too. However, Oliver seemed to pick up on her increasing gloominess and was being unbearably sweet.

"I can come by this evening, with ice cream." Oliver mentioned as they stood just inside the door, him perparing to leave. Looking at Felicity now, he had a sinking suspicion that she viewed this as a good-bye. He was trying to show her that this was not so. But she shook her head in the negative at his offer, even with her lamented item (the safe house apparently did not have this nessecary item, and it was not sitting well with the blonde) and her sad smile as she stared up at him made an ache form deep in his chest.

"I'm...planning on lots of sleep, my head...still hurts." She whispered, wincing at the rawness of her throat. Oliver nodded, unhappy, but still placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned forwards slightly.

"You still have my number, right?" He waited for her nod to continue, "You call or text me, anytime, anywhere, anything you need. I've got it, all right?" He waited for another nod, then he brushed her cheek with his thumb, kissed her on the forehead, then turned and walked away. She watched the car drive away from the window, then feigned illness (which wasn't too difficult) and locked herself away in the room in which they had set her up.

She did sleep off and on, but she mostly used her brand new iPhone to hack into CCTV cameras all around the city, trying to find out where Cooper had gone. Where he was now, possibly even what his next move would be, but...after hours and hours at it, she'd found nothing.

Then, when her body let her know it needed sustenance, she went downstairs to find out that Oliver had come by, but left again upon hearing she was still resting. His parting gift had been a tub of Mint Chocolate Chip, her favorite, and she almost broke down then because she couldn't believe he'd actually been listening to her rant this morning.

She hadn't been lying about still having his number, either; how was he to know that she'd put it into her new phone the very evening he'd given it to her. She just...hadn't used it, yet. Not that - not that she was strictly planning to, it was just...in case of emergencies. That made sense, right? Total sense.

However, he was far too tempting to try and contact at the moment. She needed to keep alert, and she knew with him around, she'd focus only on him and that would end them both in trouble. So it was that later on that evening, she ignored the gentle knock on her bedroom door and eventually dozed off, listening serval moments later to the front door clicking shut. She slid off to sleep with a heart full of yearning...

* * *

She was avoiding him. He knew the likely reason why, but it still hurt. Oliver himself was by no means one to 'share his feelings,' but in this case he did actually want to discuss this with her, find out what was going on in that pretty little head of hers. If she was doing this simply to keep him safe, he would immediately set her straight on that. He was safe as long as she was there with him - embarrassingly, she had been on his mind so much lately that, well, other people were beginning to notice...and this distancing thing, it was wearing on him.

The last time he'd seen her was when they'd said goodbye two days ago. This evening he had tried again to come around and see how she was, but McKenna had said she was still holed up in that room, messing with her phone. She made sure Felicity ate some every day, but that was about all she could do - and evidently it wasn't only Oliver's visits she was rejecting, but he heard from McKenna that Charla had been by yesterday and had also been turned away.

Well, Oliver was not going to let this continue. If she would not let him in tomorrow, then he was coming in anyway.

Oliver nodded to himself, a small bit of the anxiety swirling in his gut eased with the thought that he now had a plan of action in place. He hated the thought of not knowing what was going on with her, but he would find out soon enough...if he could get her to open up, tomorrow. Now, it was time to head home for the day. Thea would no doubt wonder what was keeping him.

Kicking the door shut behind him, Oliver strode into the modest one-story he and Thea shared, dropping the sedan keys on the table in the hallway, unloading the pizzas he'd brought onto the kitchen table and calling his little sister to dinner. Thea quickly appeared with a grin, paper plates in hand. He had no idea how she did that - the pizza had been a last minute decision. Smiling and shaking his head, he doled out the pizzas as Thea headed into the den and set up a movie.

Hours later, the room was dark and the credits rolled, Thea fast asleep as she curled against the arm of the couch. Oliver sat at the other end of it, watching his sister sleep peacefully for a moment, letting a sense of contentment settle over him.

His sister was safe, and he had a plan in place to get the only other woman who had ever made him feel - well, alive - to communicate with him. He hadn't felt like this, calm and at peace, since...well, since before...

Oliver's eyes slid shut.

* * *

 _It had all started in the late evening hours, one summer's eve. There was a benefit going on, where both Oliver Queen and his friend Tommy Merlyn had gotten more than a little tipsy and had started making a scene. So the Queen parents had decided to slap them on the wrist and escort them back home. Before they could embarrass themselves or their parents any further, Oliver figured. Thea, of course, was still a little young for these things and had stayed at home with Raisa, their trusted housekeeper._

 _Oliver could still remember this bit - he could picture Tommy, sitting caddy-corner to Oliver himself and across from his parents, leaving the entire back seat for Oliver to sprawl out across. He remembers humming some stupid song of the time, horribly off-key as he tried to tune out his parents' lecturing._

 _If only he had not claimed that seat...if only he'd just sat up, and let his friend sit next to him._

 _If only any one of them had seen the fast-approaching hulk of an SUV._

 _He'd later learn how the accident report told of the SUV T-boning the limo. How his best friend's life had been snuffed out upon impact. However, in the moment, he'd had no time to process any of this - his reality was waking up to his father screaming at him to move. His left knee had been wrenched pretty badly in the accident, and his left side didn't feel too good, but...he'd never seen his father like this before. He bottled up the pain, pushed it aside, and started walking._

 _It took him a few minutes to realize that only himself, his mother and his father had made it out - but a glance back revealed their driver and another man in a mask engaged in hand-to-hand combat, and their driver was losing. Oliver felt a sudden stinging guilt that he didn't even know the man's name._

 _And then it hit him - Tommy wasn't here._

 _He'd tried to turn back, but his father hadn't let him. He'd said Tommy was already gone and that they needed to get his mother out of here, she wasn't doing so well. At the time, Oliver did not question his father's descion to head deeper into the woods instead of following the road. They hadn't gone much further before Moira collapsed, words of affection and apologies on her dying lips. Robert had closed her eyes, kissed her one last time, then stood up and dragged his son on with him._

 _Robert explained that the man who had run into them wanted to kill the both of them - and Robert would not let Oliver die. They had to stay low until help could come. The irony was, and it turned out, how Robert had led them around in a circle and unknowingly come face-to-face with their enemy. His father had pushed Oliver away and told him to run._

 _So Oliver ran._

 _He didn't look back, not even when he heard a gun shot and the thud of a body hitting the ground. At that sudden noise, however, he had tripped and fallen, letting out a pitiful whine as he scrambled back to his feet._

 _The next several days were a blur, but he remembers finding a stream and drinking from it, wandering up its banks for a few days at least. He remembers finding some berries and in one case, half a discarded Big Mac. He'd been too hungry to care about the fact that it'd probably been there a while...he was just thankful that it was._

 _A town park was the first real sign of civilization that he'd come across, and seeing a lone man standing before a table, he ran over to ask for assistance. His hope soared, until the man turned and he recognized the face of the one who had killed his father. (He would later learn, he'd shot his father right in the head.) Oliver froze, his heart plummeting to his feet; what was he to do now? There was no way he could last much longer out there on his own, but...it was a better chance than this guy with guns. As the man noticed and started shooting at him, Oliver turned tail and fled back into the trees._

 _His side burned with a blazing fire, he was starving and exhausted, but he kept pushing himself. He would not let his parents' death be in vain. Thea - he had to survive for her. If nothing else, he had to see his baby sister again. After a while, maybe the next day he really couldn't be sure, he circled back around towards where he thought the city and civilization would be, only to be met with that man again._

 _Fear gripped him, because he realized...if he didn't get help very soon, this would be it. He'd tried to fade into the woods again, but this time the man was too fast for him. He couldn't shake him. Thoughts of Thea and the crushing disappointment of letting her down consumed him as he tripped, fell to his knees, and before he could scramble up again, a gun was thrust into his face. His eyes met the browns of a bearded man's, a sickening snear as the man started to squeeze the trigger._

 _That's when they heard the sirens, and the shouts. Inhaling sharply and feeling the pain of his side once more, he gathered his courage and hit the man's gun hand with all his might. It worked, because the gun fell from his fingers and landed several feet away. That did not, however, stop the man from delivering a vicious blow to Oliver's head. It left him reeling for the precious seconds it took for the man to retrieve his weapon. But those same percious seconds also afforded Starling's finest to get a lock on their location and step in between him and the man._

 _They'd ended up having to shoot him to disarm him, but he'd lived._

 _His name was Slade Wilson, and he was now serving a life sentence for his deeds, right alongside Malcom Merlyn, who'd set the whole thing into motion._

 _Oliver and Thea had been orphaned, "for business reasons." At least they still had each other, but that had not helped with Oliver's nightmares..._

* * *

Oliver jerked awake to the sound of his cell phone ringing. He rubbed a hand across his face wearily; he'd not had a dream about the accident in some time...he wondered, why now. He glanced over at Thea and saw the ringing sound was on the verge of waking her up, so he quickly stood and pulled out his phone, not even looking at the ID before he answered,

"Hello?"

He waited, stepping towards the window as those troubled feelings the dreams always brought slowly faded away. They started returning with a vengeance, however, as he only heard labored breathing on the other end of the line. He found his hand gripping the phone all the more tighter, because...because it sounded like...

"Felicity?"

And she sounded deeply distressed. There was a gasp, and then,

"...h-he's here."

Though the words were said in a low whisper, to him it had felt like a gunshot.


	9. Here Comes a Creep

Dental Hygienist 9

Eep! I'm sorry, this last...month, ha, has been hectic. Good things and bad things. But finally found some time to sit and write, and my muse agreed so yay! Thanks and much love to all who stayed to read this, especially those who've taken the time to review! That really does help to feed the muse lol.

Hopefully this chapter is worth the wait! (Cooper gets pretty creepy, so be warned.)

Enjoy!

* * *

Felicity slunk down the stairs, not caring about who she may be disturbing this time of night - she was exhausted and hungry, and she remembered McKenna saying something about there being chicken soup in the fridge. She was surprised to find a light on in the living room, the TV going with the sound turned down. She figured it was one of the rotating guards kept on duty, or Officer Hall herself. Felicity went on into the kitchen, found the large plastic container with the soup and carried it over to the microwave.

After setting the timer for a few minutes, Felicity decided it would be probably better to see what McKenna was watching rather than stare at the numbers counting down so she peeked into the living room again. When she saw that the TV was tuned in to some infomercial about treadmills, the first feelings of unease began to thread through her body. When she stepped forward and turned to see Officer Hall slumped over, head bowed low, that uneasy feeling struck at her heart.

"McKenna?" she warily asked, almost not daring to breathe as she crept forward, because...it almost looked like she was…

Felicity was not a cruel person. Maybe sometimes occasionally jealous, like the bout (of what she now considered to be rather petty) jealousy she'd experienced yesterday when McKenna had off-handedly mentioned how she herself had gone on a couple dates with Oliver about two years ago. She had then gone on to say how he'd not been ready for a serious relationship then - had compared him to a wet blanket, even, which was apparently why it had only been a couple dates - but how she could see a difference in him now. A liveliness in him that had not existed then. The timing, she said, had not been right. Or maybe - and here she'd given Felicity a meaningful look that the woman herself would later on ponder over at length as to whether or not there had been any ill feeling or intention there - maybe the person had not been right.

Whatever _that_ meant.

Now, however, she was just hoping the woman had not been turned into another of those caught in Cooper's crosshairs. With unsteady steps and a shaky hand, Felicity reached out to see if the other woman was still among the living. When warm air brushed against her fingertips to the pattern of steady breathing, Felicity herself breathed a deep sigh of relief. Which was short lived when she heard someone messing with the front doorknob. The front door, which opened right into the living room.

"Kenna!" Felicity called urgently, shoving at her shoulder with all her might, which was, admittedly, not much, but still...there was no response. The sounds at the door were getting louder, and obviously, the person was intent on breaking in. Head spinning, Felicity bit her lip as she tried to figure out what to do. McKenna appeared to be the only one on-duty tonight. Felicity glanced over her figure but saw no gun to defend herself with, and if she were honest, she'd probably only end up causing herself more trouble had she tried to arm herself...but there was one thing she had, one thing she always kept with her.

But where was she to hide? She couldn't move that fast and the stairs weren't close, so running upstairs didn't seem the best option. However, downstairs there was only the living room, dining room, the kitchen and...a bathroom! With a door that locked!

In the next moment, three things happened almost simultaneously. First, there was the dinging of the microwave telling her that her soup had been heated up to satisfactory levels. Before it even got to its second ding, Felicity slammed the door of the bathroom closed and locked it with an audible click. Then, at about the same time as the second ding and the click of the lock, the front door burst open and thudding footsteps entered the house.

Felicity dug her phone out of her back pocket, clinging to it like a lifeline as she tried to listen to what was going on outside. There was several little thumps - it didn't sound like footsteps, but she really couldn't make sense of what it could be. Then, she heard the stairs creak, and she heard...she heard _his_ voice.

"Oh Felicity, sweet. Daddy's come to take you back where you belong."

It was Cooper. And he was crazy.

Felicity inhaled to the count of seven, then exhaled to the count of eleven. She had been taught this breathing technique at the hospital, and as she contemplated the fact that Cooper had come for her, he was here, and she was effectively alone, well she was freaking out and needed a clear enough head to make a phone call. She performed the exercise once more, finding it starting to help already; but knowing she didn't have much time, she unlocked her phone, found his contact, and hit the green button.

On the second ring, he picked up.

" _Hello?"_

Relief flooded her veins at the sound of his voice, not realizing how much she'd missed it, missed him, until this moment. Just as she took a quivering breath to tell him what was happening, she heard a door upstairs slam. It caused her to jump and, well, forget how to speak for a moment.

" _Felicity?"_

Until he said her name. She gasped, then winced, but was completely awed that he could tell it was her on the other end of the line. She hadn't given him her number, had she? Mentally shaking herself, she latched onto his voice and finally found her own.

"...h-he's here."

She got out the important bit, hoping he could understand her as she dared not speak above a whisper for fear her voice would carry in the quiet midnight air, even inside the house. She could hear thumping going on upstairs, and she knew it wouldn't be long before Cooper realized she wasn't up there and would come looking for her down here. She heard Oliver exhale loudly before he started to speak, urgency in his every word.

" _Get in a closet or bathroom if you can. I'm on my way. Where is McKenna?"_

"I think...she was...drugged." Felicity put a hand to her head, trying to think through the increasing pressure in her temples. And her throat ached, which didn't help matters.

" _Ok, just stay where you are. I'm on the way."_ he paused, and she heard the revving of some sort of engine - probably a motorcycle, she thought idly, unaware that he owned one.

" _Did you call 911 yet?"_ Oliver asked, quite a simple question. She cursed herself, because seriously...she had thought to call him before emergency services? Though really, he was a cop, so…

" _They can direct any closer units to you...Felicity, you're going to need to hang up, and dial 911. Tell them where you are and what's happened. Can you do that for me?"_ Oliver had gone on to say, taking her silence for what it was. Felicity gulped and nodded, then remembered she was on the phone.

"Y-yeah...yes. I can." She said quietly, looking at her reflection in the mirror over the sink but only seeing what little the light from her phone offered, not having dared to turn on the bathroom light.

" _Then call me right back. Understand?"_ Oliver again reiterated the steps she needed to take quickly, including the address of the safe house, and then told her again to call him back right after.

"...Ok. I am...now." she took a shaky breath, holding her phone out in front of her and for some reason hitting 'end call' was about the hardest thing she'd ever had to do. But she did, because he'd asked her to. Then she went back to the keypad and hit '9' and '1,' before the door to the bathroom unexpectedly burst open and she dropped her phone as a scream tore from her lips.

* * *

Oliver didn't care anymore about waking up his sister as he tore through the house, reaching out to grab the Ducati keys off the table before slamming the door behind him as he left. He barely stopped to switch his phone to the Bluetooth in his helmet, jamming said helmet on his head. Quickly started up the bike, he sped down the street, talking to his girl the whole while. He counted the seconds after he told her to hang up - which had been logical, just difficult - and after two minutes and two more unanswered calls to her phone, he decided to call his station to see what was up.

Iris, who worked dispatch some nights to be closer to Barry, answered. She said they'd received no calls, but she was sending their closest units now. Which were still five minutes away. Even with speeding, Oliver was two minutes away himself. That was one hundred and twenty seconds too long.

Finally, after far too long, Oliver whipped his bike around the corner that would bring him into the neighborhood of the safe house. He skidded to a halt in front of the driveway, ripped off his helmet and ran for the door. It was partially open, but that's not what made his heart stop. The reflection in the windows…

The interior of the house was burning. Flames licked at the windows, but hadn't quite reached the ceiling yet, let alone the outer walls. Not caring for his own safety, Oliver barreled through the doorway, stopping just inside to try to see through the blaze.

"Felicity?!" He yelled out, taking a step forward. The heat was uncomfortable, but not quite unbearable, yet. But he would bear it, he would bear anything, if it meant saving her life. Had Cooper knocked her unconscious, left her somewhere? Tied her up? Or… Oliver swallowed, unable to continue that thought. The living room couch came into view, and on it he saw a body slumped over. The floor was _so hot_ and already burned out and crumbling in places, but all the same, he navigated it and dove for the couch.

The body was McKenna. But he could not just leave her here, not even if it meant a delay in getting to Felicity. He'd never, ever be able to live with himself if he didn't try...so, heart heavy but determined, he hoisted her over his shoulder, turned and, coughing, headed back towards the door.

There was a scary moment when his foot started to go through the floor, but he was able to catch himself before he fell, shook it off, and kept going.

They made it out. He moved several steps away, then laid her out on the grass, hacking from the smoke caught in his lungs. He wasted only a moment to wipe around his eyes with his undershirt, then he headed back towards the house.

Felicity was trembling. But it wasn't from the cold - it wasn't solely from fear, either. It was a mix, of fear and anger, and she wasn't sure which was winning out.

She was afraid; yes, terrified even, but it wasn't only for herself. It wasn't only because of the slimy arms of the man behind her, holding her tightly to him, his mouth next to her ear and his right hand clamped over her mouth. It wasn't just because he was holding her hostage, having overpowered her in the bathroom then marching her outside to where they now stood, at the corner of the house, looking out at the front door from an angle, but back in the shadows.

Her fear was for the man who rushed into the burning house without thought, thinking she was in there. Her anger was towards the man behind her, who had put this whole plot together.

"Tragic, isn't it?" Cooper whispered against her neck, the arm around her waist tightening slightly. "The young, lovesick police officer...dies in a house fire, believing his new love is inside." he paused, and pulled her back a step. She allowed it, because she had a plan, too. "Only later was her body found in the bushes under the window, suffocated." here he paused again to nose her neck slightly, which sent a repulsive shiver through her. "Aw, you're throat's already raw. Don't worry, babe, I'll be nice and slow."

Felicity closed her eyes, trying to prevent the tears from falling, as she waited. She had to wait for the right moment...she heard Oliver coughing, opened her eyes to see him bringing McKenna out. Good, almost time. Almost...he dropped her off at the edge of the yard, then turned around.

Now was her chance.

Cooper should have known her better, really. If she was being quiet and cooperative, she was up to something. His hold on her was a little slack because she hadn't fought much since he frog-marched her outside, so now she did. She chomped down hard on whatever part of his hand her teeth could reach, raising her leg and reaching back to bring the outside of her foot down hard on the inside of his leg, from as high up as she could reach down to his ankle, and threw herself forward. It worked; his hand disappeared from her mouth anyway which was all she cared about. She took the precious moments to inhale so she could belt out the loudest scream of her life,

" _ **Oliver!"**_

Her momentum carried her forward, but Cooper tackled her to the ground.

* * *

Oliver was focused on the house, gearing himself up to go back in, so the scuffle off to his right almost did not register in his brain. The scream, however, did.

" _ **Oliver!"**_

It was her, and she wasn't in the house! Oliver turned in time to see a body diving to the ground. The fast-approaching lights and sirens hardly impacted his mind as he ran for the shadows her voice had come from. He was now close enough to make out a lanky man, barely past teenage years from the looks of it, sitting on his girl with his hands wrapped around her neck. Oliver saw red.

Hauling the young man up by the collar of his jacket, Oliver one-handedly tossed him several feet away. The little snot had the audacity to keep his feet instead of land on his behind or back, as Oliver would've preferred. He did take some pleasure in seeing the fear in the other man's eyes as Oliver stalked towards him, no doubt doing a mighty fine impression of a hunter locked in on its prey.

This kid better be glad Oliver forgot his gun at home in his rush to get to Felicity, or else he'd be dead by now. A couple times over, probably.

This Cooper character took another step back, so Oliver took one big one forward. This is when Oliver felt a gentle tug on his shirt, startling him into awareness. He grit his teeth, knowing who it likely was and why, but glanced down at her anyway. There she stood, with a hand to her throat, but it was her eyes that held him. The message therein.

 _Don't do it, he's not worth it. Not for me. Please._

Oliver sighed, because she was worth everything to him, but at her request he started to relax his stance. And then, when Oliver glanced over to see back up had finally arrived in the driveway, he returned his focus to the jerk only to.. well, not see him. Anywhere.

Immediately on alert again, Oliver's arm shot out almost of its own accord and wrapped itself around Felicity, reassuring himself that she was still here. She was safe, she was still with him here. His girl released a shuddering sigh and then pretty much melted in his arms. Her legs weren't capable of holding her up any longer, and if he were honest, neither were his. So he sank to the ground with her, wrapping her up in his embrace when she started to shake.

" _Shh_ _,_ it's ok. It's over. It's over." Oliver repeated softly into her hair, drawing his nose down to it as she hiccuped. He held her tight, not minding at all when she clung tightly to him, wrapped around him, not even when she tried to hide in the crook of his neck as the medical team made their way over. He did, however, pick her up to carry her to the second ambulance that was called. McKenna went in the first one. Oliver held her hand the whole ride to the hospital, after having finally been forced to release her to lay her on the gurney and let them do their work. Not that she would've known, she finally passed out about halfway there.

Except, it wasn't exactly over, he later found out, as he waited for her at the hospital. Cooper Seldon had not been caught. He was still out there, on the loose; but now, Oliver was going to do whatever it took to protect his girl.


	10. Choices

"Ollie! You're not supposed to be out of bed yet!" Thea called to her brother, having found him trying to limp down the hallway just outside his hospital room. Which, he hadn't made it all that far considering the time it had taken her to go downstairs, find the cafeteria, ask them for a cup of the sludge they called coffee, then return up here. His injuries must really be slowing him down.

As her brother's only response to this was a grunt, Thea rolled her eyes and headed over to make sure he didn't actually end up falling flat on his face. Even if he did deserve it, for his stupidly disobeying doctors orders.

"You could've at least brought the crutches with you, then you wouldn't have to hang on to the wall so much."

"I thought that was what little sisters were for," Oliver grumbled, his voice hoarse from the smoke inhalation, but he sent his sister a small grin as she positioned herself at his side.

"Ha, ha. Very funny. Now, where are we going? You do know there's a perfectly good bathroom attached to your own room, right?" Thea questioned, seeing that as the only conceivable reason for him to be up and about. When Oliver didn't respond right away, she looked up to see a troubled expression on her brother's face.

"I...I need to make sure she's alright, ok?" Oliver mumbled, seeming a little unsure himself. Even so, he was continuing forward at the same pace as before, perhaps even a little faster now with his sister's assistance. Thea frowned.

"You know Diggle is guarding her door right now, right? And besides...I mean, he wouldn't come after her in daylight anyway, right?" Thea reasoned, but again, Oliver didn't respond. So she continued, "Why is he after her anyway? And why...I mean I get that you like her, and believe me I am happy about that, but we hardly know her right?"

He remembered when he and Felicity had sat down and discussed this a little more, that morning before she'd effectively kicked him out of her life for a few days. Maybe that was one reason why, she'd been afraid of opening up? Well, he could certainly understand that…

"They went to the same college. She'd been seeing him at the time, but when she changed majors, he wasn't happy about it. That's when the first fire happened. He'd somehow...locked her in her dorm. But the firemen were able to get to her in time." Oliver explained, but never paused in his forward movements. Thea's eyes went wide and she raised a brow.

"Seriously, he did all that just 'cause she changed directions at uni? Ouch."

"I never said he was sane." Oliver returned, his lips quirking upwards a bit. Thea grinned, glad to see her brother cracking a joke again.

"Obviously. Anyway, what floor is she on?" Thea asked, looking back up at him.

"Next one down." was his response. Thea stopped, then stared at her brother. Then she lightly thwacked his shoulder, because,

"Ollie, the elevators are the other way!"

* * *

"He's really gone over her, isn't he?" Thea stood in the hallway, facing the window where they could see Oliver sitting next to Felicity's bedside, hand on hers. Diggle stood outside the room next to Thea, staring in much as she was.

"I'd say that's a reasonable conclusion." Diggle murmured, a hint of amusement in his tone.

"I know it's weird circumstances, and don't get me wrong, I think she's great for him; but don't you think things are moving a tad fast? I mean, he's gonna ask her to move into the house.."

"He's asked Lyla and I to, as well. And you know it's not like that." Diggle reminded her, turning to look at the younger Queen sibling. Thea frowned a little, then conceded with a nod.

"I know, I guess maybe I'm a little afraid she won't move out again when this is all over?" Thea frowned again, crossing her arms as she added, "Or, maybe its that I'm worried that she will.." Thea glanced up at Diggle and squirmed a little under his knowing gaze.

"You're not used to having to share Oliver anymore, are you?" Diggle asked, a smile on his face. Thea's eyes widened as her gaze snapped back to her brother. Was that really all it was? She was feeling uncomfortable or uneasy about something, but she wasn't really sure what that something even was. Could it be possible, could Diggle be right that it went down to the fact that she wasn't Oliver's whole world anymore?

Well. That was a good thing, right? She didn't want to be selfish, and she knew her brother had a big heart. There was plenty of room, there in that heart, she reminded herself. Plus...she grinned.

"Maybe. But, Ollie doesn't want me around the possibility of danger, so I won't be the one who has to watch those two dance around each other all week. I'll be at a friend's house." Thea cheekily replied, her grin widening as Diggle let out a groan of long-suffering.

* * *

Ten seconds.

That's all it took, when one was being strangled, to lose consciousness. For permanent damage to be done.

Ten seconds.

Four seconds… Maybe three, or maybe five. No one was sure, but for Oliver, that was way too long. This is how long it had taken Oliver to sprint across the lawn to where they'd been, where _that man_ had had her pinned down. Three to five seconds of his life he'll forever regret and never get back, because he should have been faster.

Nevermind the fact that he'd had a broken foot, from when his foot had gone through the floorboards, at the time - hadn't felt it in that moment, so it really hadn't counted, in his book.

And now here he was, sitting next to the woman he feared he was really starting to fall for, holding her hand though she likely was unaware. She was still unconscious, with possible permanent damage done to her throat. They wouldn't know for sure until she woke up. Which she should, very soon. The doctors said so.

"Ollie," Sara's voice startles him, and he looks up to see her standing next to him with a pillow in her hands. Speaking of doctors…

"If you're going to stay in this room, the least you could do is prop your foot up." At the scowl on his face, she quickly continued on, overruling any potential objections while she placed the pillow at the end of Felicity's bed. "I've talked the orderlies into leaving you alone, but you've gotta do this for me." And here she pointed to the pillow.

Oliver sighed, but relinquished his grip on Felicity's hand so he could lift up his leg and position it properly atop the pillow. Wincing, he leaned back in his chair and took a moment to breathe, shifting so he was as comfortable sitting here in these awful chairs as could be. Then he gave Sara a nod, not even looking down as his hand reached out to reclaim Felicity's. His left foot now properly elevated, Sara gave a satisfactory nod and, after assuring him Felicity would be ok, she turned and exited the room.

Oliver stayed where he was, he gaze now carefully memorizing all the contours of her beautiful face as she lay sleeping. His thumb started to idly rub up and down on the back of her hand - he wasn't even conscious of the action, until her hand twitched. Immediately sitting up straight in his chair, biting back a hiss as he had jarred his injured foot in the process, Oliver leaned forward to watch for eye movement.

There was nothing discernable. Stifling a sigh, Oliver settled back in his seat, prepared to sit here and wait for however long it took for her to wake. About an hour or so later, he heard a low moan. Which wasn't really the best of things, because she still had a tube sticking down her throat. The swelling had been a concern, so they'd put the tube down to prevent her airways from blocking completely.

Or, something like that. Oliver was not really paying attention at that point, too struck on the fact that, if she woke with that thing still in, chances are she'd completely freak. Which made sense, because seriously, who wanted a tube shoved all the way down your throat?

In the next moment, he felt her hand tightly grip his again, so...he scooted forward, only allowing a small wince as his foot dropped to the floor, giving him a better angle as he leaned forward. He switched so that his right hand held her own, his left arm curling around the top of her head, brushing her cheek with his thumb, speaking softly in hopes of calming her down. She didn't seem to be fully with it yet, but she was already starting to thrash around a bit.

After a moment, when his presence must have finally registered - and he was gripping her hand pretty tightly, too - she finally started to quiet. Oliver was about to lean back, satisfied that she was slumbering again, when cloudy blue eyes suddenly opened, staring straight at him. He held his breath, unable to do anything except keep her gaze, when seconds later they were gone, her eyes closed as she drifted off.

It would be several hours before she showed signs of waking again, just in time for them to pull the tube out. Oliver was allowed to stay next to her, holding her hand and doing his best to keep her calm. When it was over, she squeezed his hand in what he assumed was thanks, before drifting off again. They told him they would release her after a few more tests were done, as long as she had someone to stay with her to monitor her condition. He answered, that would not be a problem.

Felicity woke again less than an hour later, groggy but seeming to be fairly with it.

"Hey," Oliver said gently, smiling down at the blonde beauty. "You were very brave these last few days, hun. But, now I've got a request for you." he said, keeping his voice low to help with that urge to cough. Smoke inhalation was a real pain, you know?

Felicity blinked up at him, seeming to stiffen, but her eyes hesitantly urged him to go on. He briefly wondered if she were expecting to hear something bad; she looked to be bracing herself. He smiled down at her, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand. If that was the case, then she was - hopefully - in for a surprise.

"Let me take care of you." he said, slowly but with all the conviction within, hoping she would not fight him on this. He held her eyes as he spoke, trying to convey by that medium alone how much he really wanted to do this. How much it would put him at ease, if she would allow this.

She blew out a breath of air, scrunching up her nose in an adorable wince as her eyes wandered from his to the ceiling for a moment. He held his breath as she seemed to be considering it, and in his mind he was lining up all the arguments he'd thought of as she had lay there sleeping. Yet, in the next moment, her eyes were on his once more as she smiled and squeezed his hand.

"That's a yes, then?" he had to ask to confirm, eyes alight with his inner happiness. She smiled again, eyes blinking slowly as she squeezed his hand one last time.

* * *

 **A/N:** ...I feel like I should end this here. Haha. Seriously, though, the action for the most part is over. Might just have one more chapter left, unless I do an epilogue. The next chapter should have loads of fluffiness, which I really love with these two, so. There ya go.

I'm not going to say when I miht update this again, because I've no honest idea, but I'll continue working on it and it'll hopefully within the next couple weeks. A very big thank you to everyone that has stuck with me through this story, with my unpredictable updating times too!


	11. Happy Endings

So this is it! Final chapter. I may choose to come back and play in this verse a little more later on, but for now, this is all. I want to thank everyone who has stuck with me for this crazy ride and unknown updating times! Thank you to each and everyone of you who reviewed, gave a kudos, or who has just taken the time to read this story. I appreciate it.

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

When she had agreed to let Oliver help her, she hadn't actually meant moving in with him. That had not even been anywhere near her realm of possibilities, really. Which gave total justification to her present moodiness. She was, quite literally, sulking as officer John Diggle wheeled her out to the car. Also unfair, how it was against procedure to allow her to just walk out. In all fairness, she knew she was a little unsteady, but so was…

Felicity slapped Oliver's hands away as he reached out to help her into the car. No, oh no, _not a chance,_ Mister. He was limping worse than a drunken dog, and somehow did not require a wheelchair to evacuate the premises. Talk about unfair!

Never mind about his explanation of signing papers and being released earlier, the man could barely stand on his own and he was offering _her_ assistance? She glared at him, then slowly shuffled herself from the chair into the backseat of the car, whilst Mr. Unfair was standing there, leaning against the open door. It was a miracle it didn't accidentally close with the weight he must be leaning on it. If it had, maybe that would've taught him a lesson about modesty and knowing your own limits.

With what little she'd come to know of him over the last week or two, though? He'd probably blame the door.

Still. She wasn't genuinely mad at him, so when he slid in next to her from the other side of the car, she smiled just a little bit and leaned into him. He exhaled in what she couldn't decide was a huff or a sigh, then lifted his arm to loosely wrap around her shoulders, allowing her to more fully lean against him. He started to play with the fingers of her left hand - his gaze on her freshly mint-painted nails, courtesy of Thea - as he started to speak.

"There was some stuff, mainly clothing items, that managed to survive this fire… I went ahead and had 'em put it all in my room." When Felicity's wide-eyes flashed over to meet his, he was quick to add, "I'll be on the couch, don't worry."

Of course, he still planned on watching over her all night, but she didn't exactly need to know that right now. He was trying to win her over, not sound like a stalker. Felicity's expression, pursed lips and eyes studying his, gave no indication to her thoughts on the matter, however. Still, he held her gaze as she studied him - he would give to her everything she needed or wanted from him that he possibly could. And if that meant standing still while she made up her mind, then he'd do it.

A moment later, she gave a hesitant nod, but he had a feeling if she'd had more energy, she'd have fought a little more. As it was, she dropped her gaze to lay her chin on his chest, she was facing the door and kept her eyes downcast. Oliver bit the inside of his cheek; he couldn't meet her gaze and so had no idea what she was thinking, and this did not sit well with him. However, he knew that now wasn't really the time to press the issue, so he let her be. Though, that didn't stop his free hand - his right hand - from playing with the ends of her hair.

He kind of figured she'd have fallen asleep by the time they got to his house - taking a rather scenic route, just in case - but no. As soon as the car pulled into the driveway, Felicity sat up and blinked out the side window. Dig - who was driving - stopped the car and got out to offer Oliver assistance in standing; meanwhile his wife, Lyla, who'd been riding shotgun, opened Felicity's door and was helping her out. Oliver first made sure she got out ok, then he ignored John as he got himself out and hobbled over to the front door. He didn't miss his partners not-so-subtle eye roll either, but chose to ignore it. John, having got the key from Oliver earlier, stepped forward to unlock the door and let everyone in.

Oliver could do nothing but stand there and watch as Lyla helped Felicity back to his room. The nice thing about this house, and one of the prime reasons Oliver had chosen it, was because it had duel masters. Meaning, both Oliver and Thea's bedrooms had a nice, full bathroom attached. Which would come in handy with these extra people around. The pain in his foot finally registered once he had nothing else to focus on, so Oliver hobbled over to the couch and sat himself down. Then along came John, with a pillow that he put on the coffee table, after moving the candles of course(they were Thea's). Oliver could only stare at him a moment as the bigger man said nothing, just gave him a stern look and pointed at it. Too tired to argue, Oliver manhandled his cast to prop his leg up on the table, then leaned back into the couch with a sigh. He was tired but he couldn't sleep, not yet.

"I'm gonna call into the station real quick, let them know we've arrived." Oliver nodded to him, and Digg disappeared.

Oliver made the mistake of closing his eyes. He was intending to fully enjoy the moment or two of peace. Then, an unknown about of time later, his eyes opened when he felt the couch shift and looked to see a certain blonde settling herself down next to him. Wasn't she supposed to be in the other room? He looked up to see Lyla hovering over them, who only shrugged at him.

"She wanted to see you," was all the other woman said. Then she took a step back and added, "Do you mind if I…?" here she waved vaguely towards Thea's room.

"I've got her," Oliver assured with a nod, and so Lyla disappeared, too. Oliver looked to the clock by the TV to find he'd actually been out of it for a few hours. Shaking his head at his laxness, he turned his attention to the woman pressing into his side. She was leaning against him, but her focus was on the electronic tablet in her hands. She seemed to be opening a word document.

"Lyla give you a tablet?" He asked, meeting her eyes as she smiled up at him and nodded, showing him what she'd quickly typed in response,

 _Yep! It's mine now._

Oliver chuckled and nodded, and it was a really good idea. He was only disappointed he hadn't thought of it first. In the next moment, Felicity became a little more shy, biting her lip and looking down. Which made Oliver want to read what she'd written all the more. Also, wow, he'd never seen anyone type as fast as she seemed to; sometimes she only used one hand, too!

 _I don't want to sleep. Can we watch a movie?_

"Sure. Thea made me get Netflix and Hulu, so…" he started to shift forwards to grab the controller off the coffee table, but then about jumped out of his skin when Felicity's left hand found his leg. Like, the _inside_ of his leg, almost beneath his knee. She hadn't even noticed his reaction as she reached forward and snatched the controller. All Oliver could do was turn his head to stare at her, which she finally noticed, after turning the TV on and glancing over at him. He looked pointedly down at her hand, which was still on his leg.

She blushed, but then a weird expression overtook her face and she slowly started to inch her hand away, turning her body away too.

Wait, no. That's not what he wanted.

Oliver grabbed her left hand in his right, and pulled her a little closer. She willingly leaned more fully against his shoulder, and Oliver couldn't stop his grin as she snuggled into him. He left their entwined hands on his knee, a slightly less distracting place than where her's had been before. He sat back and let Felicity watch whatever she wanted, enjoying the simplicity of basking in her presence.

And then...they must've both fallen asleep, because the next thing he knew, he was waking up to a dark TV with a blonde next to him, right arm thrown around him and totally using his chest as a pillow. Oliver could not deny that he was completely ok with this development.

Only, he just now realized what had woken him up: Felicity was restless.

She murmured lowly in her sleep and her head and hands kept twitching. He didn't know exactly where his right hand was - buried somewhere underneath Felicity and probably still connected with her hand, so he wasn't willing to take that risk at the moment. So he lifted his left hand and gently rubbed at her back, cradling her head as he spoke soft assurances. She snuffled her nose adorably and pressed into him more. She seemed to have settled down for the moment, though.

Looking to the clock, Oliver saw it was a little past eight in the morning. He marveled at that, because it was rare that he actually managed to sleep through the night these days. He must have been more tired than he'd thought...or, it may have been due to his blonde partner here. A wave of longing suddenly hit him and he knew...he really, really wanted this. He was determined to do whatever it took, to lead them here again once his was all over. Or, maybe just to stay here.

Except...now his bladder was making itself known and he was regretting all that water he'd had during the movie last night. Looking down at the sleeping lady, he sighed. He hated to. In fact, he really, really didn't want to. But, he had to get up.

"Felicity, hun, can you move?" Oliver spoke, trying to shift the blonde away from him. She clung tighter. Oliver stifled a laugh, because apparently she didn't want to move anymore than he did, so he added, "Just for a few minutes. I do need to get up, 'm sorry." he poked her in the side, which finally had her shifting away. She was starting to wake as he moved, but he kissed the top of her head and laid her carefully against the next couch cushion, murmuring that she didn't have to get up and he would be right back.

She was awake, though, by the time he got his leg off the table and levered himself up to hobble towards his bathroom. She watched him, just in case he fell, but made no move otherwise. Until he came back, and then he saw her awake and with the tablet in her hands.

"Hey. You hungry?" Oliver asked, smiling gently at her as he leaned against the back of the couch. Her emphatic nodding must have indicated her hungry tummy, because he laughed and then moved on to the kitchen. "C'mon, I'll see what we can fix up."

She still wasn't really allowed to have most solid foods, for fear of the damage they might do on the way down, but Oliver assured her that he was a smoothie master. Any flavor she liked, he could make it - adding plenty of nutrition that one could barely taste. She didn't believe him. On the taste part, anyway. Still, he whipped up two blueberry banana smoothies, and leaned back against the counter, watching her as she took her first sip. Her eyes widened and she nodded. She turned to her tablet and typed out,

 _Surprisingly good! You may retain your title, Smoothie Master._

They were both quiet for a moment, each sipping on their own drink, when Felicity became nervous again. Oliver watched her for a moment, then gently asked her what was wrong. She put down her drink and carefully paid attention to what she was writing on her tablet. Something she wouldn't allow him to see until she was finished. When she finally did turn it to him, hands shaking slightly, it read,

 _So does...I mean, can...can this count as our missed coffee date? I mean, I know it isn't coffee but…_

Oliver looked up at her, holding his breath as he asked, "Do you want it to?"

She quickly typed, _Yes! Wait, I asked you first. Do you?_ And she tapped eagerly on the question when she showed it to him. Oliver put down his drink and stepped forward.

"Yes, I do. I...I'd like it better if his was more like our second, or third date, though." Oliver said, and he was so close now Felicity could see all the little flecks of color in his beautiful blue eyes. She raised an eyebrow to encourage him to continue, too mesmerized by his gaze to think of the tablet still in her hands.

"Because I have a question for you, and it would be more appropriate for a third date scenario." he whispered, continuing to loom over her. She didn't move. Without breaking eye contact, he grabbed her tablet and put it on the counter, then slowly began to lean in. He cupped her face with his left hand, using his right as a brace against the counter behind him, just in case his leg gave out. It would not due to fall right now. He stopped when his lips were mere centimeters from her own, glancing down at them, but then whispered his question,

"Is this ok?"

He was asking if it was ok to kiss her.

Her answer was to surge forward and meet his lips with her own. She wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing him closer as the kiss deepened and she thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of his lips sliding over her own. A throat clearing jerked them from their new reality, and Oliver leaned back enough to see it was John standing on the other side of the counter, trying to get their attention.

"As delighted as I am for you two, there was a development over night you need to know about. It's good news. Take a seat and I'll tell ya."

Reluctantly, Oliver dropped his hand from her face, but felt much better when Felicity immediately took his hand in her own, and after picking up her tablet and smoothie, she dragged him towards the couch. They sat next to each other and stared up at Digg, who sat on the edge of the coffee table.

"Last night, at about 23 hundred, a state trooper pulled over a vehicle with a busted tail light. He called it in right away, and dispatch said it was a rental. I don't remember the name he used, but you know we have Cooper's picture up everywhere - imagine the troopers surprise when he walked up to find Cooper Seldon behind the wheel."

Felicity squeaked, _actually_ _squeaked_ , and clung to Oliver's hand so hard his fingers were sure to go numb soon. He couldn't resist the urge to pull her closer; he nearly pulled her into his lap as he asked,

"Did they get him? Is he in custody?" Oliver held his breath, waiting for the answer.

"Yes." Diggle allowed himself to smile, nodding at the two. "He's in custody. It's finally over, Felicity. For real this time."

Felicity sprung to her feet and hugged officer Diggle, making him laugh but he returned it. Oliver almost felt jealous, until she settled back next to him and perched her head on his shoulder, poking at his cheek with her nose. The look in her eyes was trying to tell him something, but he wasn't sure what.

"Are you asking me something?" he questioned, a grin on his lips because his girl was beside him, smiling at him, and he was feeling playful. Felicity grabbed her tablet and typed lightning fast.

Glancing at her response of, _Can I kiss you again?_ Diggle took this as his cue to leave and promptly vanished. Not that either of the two on the couch noticed.

"Yes, please. I would like that, very much." Oliver whispered, before Felicity claimed his lips again. They stayed like that for several moments, until one of them had to lean back in order to breathe.

"You never need to ask, by the way." Oliver spoke slowly, his voice gravelly and, Felicity would admit, very sexy, knowing the quality of his voice had nothing to do with smoke inhalation this time. Well, not _that_ kind of smoke, anyway. When she gave him a confused look, he continued.

"You have my permission for any type of kisses, anytime. You don't need to ask." he told her, to which she grinned and peppered his face in tiny little kisses. He actually laughed, but because he couldn't take her teasing anymore, he grabbed her face and held her still so his lips could find hers again.

He was already addicted, and they'd only started this morning. After several more minutes of kissing, they finally settled down to watch some TV and finish their smoothies. Oliver held her to his side with his arm around her, of course, because they were only content when they could feel the other, pressed up close to them.

It would be a few more days before Felicity moved out, renting a condo of her own.

It would be a little less than a year, before she would be moving back into the Queen home. Only this time, all three residents would be sharing the same last name.


End file.
